Jerrad Peters: How I see it
16 October 2007
THEY come from all walks of life. Most are tradesmen – carpenters, brick-layers, painters. And they have a number of things in common – not the least of which is a passion for hockey. That, and an almost equal level of enthusiasm for beer and a distinct fascination with the female body. They are, for lack of a better description, the primary constituency of Don Cherry. And every Saturday night, they gather to worship at the pulpit of redneck Canada. Beer in hand, eyes glued to Coach’s Corner, assembled at the salon of true Canadian discourse – the local bar.
What I happened to find, upon a recent evening at a nearby watering-hole, is that there is a surprising amount of information to be gleaned by listening to their conversations. These are hardcore hockey fans. The truest of the true. Old fashioned, fist-pounding, beer-chugging, f-bomb dropping, Canadian boys. Their opinions, more than anything else, shape the landscape of hockey in this country, and, as an extension, that of the National Hockey League as well.
Predictably, their discussion on this night centered on the suspension of Jesse Boulerice. Banished for 25-games after delivering a vicious check to Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler, the 29-year-old right winger was just the latest perpetrator in a disturbing trend of violent incidents to happen upon the NHL. Just weeks earlier, Flyers forward Steve Downie received a 20-game suspension for a similar hit on Dean McAmmond of the Ottawa Senators. And later that same night, Hockey Night in Canada analyst Kelly Hrudy tore into the playing style, or lack thereof, of Nashville’s Jordan Tootoo.
You would think, however, that the grizzled philosophers huddled around the bar would have brushed-off Hrudy’s attack as little more than girlish cowardice. After all, Boulerice, Downie, and Tootoo are the embodiment of the rough-and-tumble Canadian hockey culture, right?
At one time, perhaps; but no longer. Goonery, apparently, just doesn’t fly anymore. In fact, everyone around me seemed to arrive at quite the opposite consensus.
“If a guy goes after another guy’s head,” stated the man next to me, “he should get forty games.”
Everyone else seemed in agreement. But he wasn’t finished.
“The second time, he should get a season.”
Harsh, indeed. But get this.
“If he does it a third time, see ya!”
And there you have it. And it seems that the more hockey fans I talk to, the more they are coming around to this way of thinking. Tough hockey will always have its place. But violent hockey just isn’t tolerated any longer.
So what does this mean to the NHL in practical terms? If the hockey heartland is revolting against a culture which was originally fashioned in its own image, who can stop it? Violence and fighting, arguably, are among the key factors preventing hockey from being accepted in the American sporting mainstream. That, coupled with the fact that the grand, toothless congregation of Canadian fans seems to be repelled by the recent incidents should be enough to encourage reform at the NHL level.
If it doesn’t, nothing can. And all we’ll be left with is a sport that nobody likes – and even more tragically, that nobody takes seriously.
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