Thursday, March 13, 2008

Pronger Gets Away Scott-Free

There has been some buzz in the NHL lately surrounding the idea that teams that are ranked higher than their opponent receive favourable calls from referees. Obviously, this is a very touchy subject for the NHL, however the referees are human and are likely, just like any of us, to make mistakes (as they do o so often). However, a spade should be called a spade and if the ref sees something that is penalized, the same should be done if a player does the same thing and is wearing a different jersey. Nobody, no matter how big a fan, should be in dis-accordance with that notion.

Not too long ago Chris Simon (New York Islanders) got a 30-game suspension for stomping on an opponent with his skate. Chris Pronger (Anaheim Ducks) has received no suspension AT ALL for doing what literally looks like the same infraction. Colin Campbell, who is in charge of suspensions for the NHL, has the privilege, unlike the referees in a game, to repeatedly look over the infraction and make his due judgement.

This decision from Colin Campbell, shows that skeptics might actually be right about the biases in the NHL right now. The Ducks are seen as last years Stanley Cup champions and losing their captain down the stretch can be devastating for them, but that in no way should allow him to get away with what he has gotten away with. Don't be surprised if the bad calls we see on the ice are co-related to the bad calls we see off the ice. The corruption seems to be leaking from within.

I have added the YouTube links from the Chris Simon and the Chris Pronger infractions...you be the judge

Chris Simon (New York Islanders):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzUPO3fadkc

Chris Pronger (Anaheim Ducks):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ETfAmIzVDy0

1 comment:

Max Power said...

Wow, to be honest, I had missed the incident...but seeing that on youtube, yeah, I have to say it's as bad as what Simon did to Ruutu.

He EVER SO SLIGHTLY made it look like a loss of balance, but it still merited a suspension...as they say, a high sticking call may be unintentional, but you STILL have to take responsibilty for your actions...to me, the same thing applies.