With the happenings of the past weekend during a playoff game in the Quebec Major Juniour hockey league involving former NHL goalie great Patrick Roy, Hockey has taken another black eye that it didn't deserve.
Jonathan Roy, Goalie of the QMJHL Quebec Remparts can be seen on many sports casts and your local computer during a playoff game being held back by the referees while trying to start a fight with the goalie of the Chicoutimi Sauguneens.
After the referee holding Roy back left to attend to another matter, Patrick Roy can been seen in two different camera shots waving for his son to go to the other end of the ice. I have no idea what Patrick was saying nor am I going to speculate as to what was said, but he should have made more of an effort to control the conduct of his team, let alone his own son.
Then Jonathan Roy skated the length of the ice and began to assault, and that is the only way to describe it, the opposing goalie then proceeded tell the crowd that they were number 1, then begin another fight with a player, I said to myself, "this is going to be an ugly suspension". That is not what happened.
Then we get a little 7 game suspension for the son and 5 games for papa, I felt that the ball had been dropped like it so often is in Hockey from the NHL on down to junior.
Then watching two shows on the Tuesday following the incident, ESPN's "Around the Horn" and "Pardon The Interuption" and hearing the LA Times columnist Bill Plascke and Miami Herald Columnist Dan Le Batard say that this is part of the game.
WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?
Le Batard continued and said that hockey is a brutal game. Does anyone every say that football is a brutal game?
When did battery become woven into the fabric o####ame that I love and still play? We see incidents like this happen every year in hockey, but does anyone try and put a stop to it, No. Everyone now sees hockey as a brutal game and one full of thugs. From the Bertuzzi incident to this one. Seven games is an absolute joke for what Roy did.
I have heard people say that it is a playoff game and that playoff games are more vauable than regular season games. So I say if the games or more valuable, make the punishment fit the crime. Deterents have been sorely missed in the NHL and hockey in general, but incidents like this where they can throw the book at someone, they toss a pillow.
If Roy had done this on the street he would be on trial for battery. But because he is playing hockey and you have opinions like those of Le Batard and Plascke, people always get a pass.
With an opportunity to send a message to players in all of hockey, hockey did not do anything. That means that everyone has accepted this as part of the game and they have done the game a disservice.
It is a shame that no one feels the need to fix this part of the game.
No, having a goalie skate to the other end in order to attack the other goalie isn't hockey, but when the major professional level of the sport allows two guys to interrupt their game and punch each other out at center ice, one can imagine why the casual sports fan doesn't see much difference between the two events, and just lumps it all into 'hockey'.
I don't mind a little dust-up in mid ice during the heat of the game. but this goon style hockey as exhibited by J.Roy and other goons like Burtuzzi and others like them when they deliberetly set out to injure another player.They should be charged with agravated assault and removed from the game permanently,the team should forfiet the game as well.This is why I don't watch hockey anymore,I used to be a regular fan.Lets get rid of the GOONS.
Part of the problem is the refs, that is why there is and should be fighting in hockey. Cheap shots and penalties that never are called (watch a Kerry Fraser game).
People complain about the refs in every sport. The solution isn't to have the players stop the game and punch each other out to settle disputes.
Imagine what a joke the NFL would be if games were regulary interrupted by fights. If a linebacker would begin punching the quarterback because he wanted to 'give his team a spark'.
The NFL would be laughed at by serious sports fans. And yet, this is the image that the NHL has to most casual sports fans who this league desperately needs. Incidents like this with Roy just blend in with the rest of it, and us hockey fans are stuck with our sport relegated to a sucky network like VS, instead of getting widespread coverage on ESPN.
What Bertuzzi did was unconcionable (he goes back to court after this season). Pronger stomping on a guy's leg was just mean. This latest incident truly displays all that is going wrong with Hockey.
If people want to watch fighting, watch the cage fighting shows, not hockey. A punch-up every now and again is to be expected (they're all giant children on skates), but not a beat-down that ends someone's career.
I do know one thing that would discourage fighting - Naked Hockey!
You all are pucking morons. The other keeper should have been prepared and fought back. There was mayhem on the ice with all the players fighting. It happens in Jr hockey. EVERYONE LOVES A GOALIE FIGHT. As to Roy's second fight that player came at him.
I played Jrs. it is very competive and the crowds get into the game. Watch youngblood it shows the Jr game.
"If Roy had done this on the street he would be on trial for battery. But because he is playing hockey and you have opinions like those of Le Batard and Plascke, people always get a pass."
Yea, and if Oscar De La Hoya beat the #### out of someone on the street, it would be illegal too. It's not on the street though. It's a sport. It's entertainment ... different rules apply.
I agree that the penalties for Roy should have been stiffer. But I disagree with your analogy.
"patrick roy blew his chance of ever haveing his jersey put up in the rafters. "
His number was retired a few years back and has been hanging in the rafters at Pepsi Center since.
Fighting is a part of hockey, has been and always will be. If you are going to play in the sport, you better be prepared to fight no matter what position you play. You can not compare this fight to the incident with Burtuzzi either, Moore had his back to to Burtuzzi and did not see what was coming. The other goalie clearly saw Jonathan Roy coming towards him. He knew what was going to happen and should have been a hockey player and fought back.
Mojo...nice job taking on a stance on this. There should have been a stiffer penalty. But leave Bill "Plascke" alone! As much as I abhor the LA Times, I read the sports page just for Bill and TJ Simers. They rock!
I watched Thursdays game between Washington Caps and Tampa Bay Lightening. It looked to me like Tampa Bay does not want the Flyers in the playoffs based on the game Thurday night. Tampa Bay looked like they were skating in sand and I think the league should look very caefully into this game. Did anyone else notice this? Please let me know or is it just my opinion. I hate to use the words "THROW A GAME" but !!!.....Pookers
I was very much surprised as I was Disappointed in
my once a time ago Idle Goalie Patric Roy , My Son
plays Jr Hockey in Vancouver and I would NEVER ask
or Encourage him to even Fight . SHAME on BOTH ROYS
and the Suspensions are A BIG JOKE ,There Name Definitely SAVED THEIR #### , My suggestion is to
the Father , Stay Out Of The Coaching and let your
Son fend for himself the same as my Son .He will grow up to take his Lumps without his Big Daddy .
Dan Hill New Westminster B.C.
Fighting is part of the game
but what happened was not a fight between two equally matched players. There are unwritten rules of fighting in the NHL. You hardly ever see just one player beating someone up who isnt fighting back.
Hockey needs the occasional scrap. If a star player is getting pushed around and the team has had enough of it the only thing to deter injuring or shaking up your star player is a fight.
Watch any devils game, when someone pushes marty, or whacks for the puck after the whistle is blown there is always some face washing and the occasional fight. After that there is less contact.
roys jersey was never raised to the rafters. and after this, to top off all the off ice and the way he left montreal, it will be a long time that it will happen.
Roy is an ####, but to think a hockey game is just a bunch of fights every five minutes is pretty moronic. And yes, if the refs did do their job, most fights wouldnt happen, anyone who watches hockey would know that. You idiots critisize the sport, then glorify ultimate fighting, and boxing for that matter, whose only goal is to beat the #### outta someone. incedendents happen in every sport, not just in the nhl
Only watched the video so really don't know what led up to the whole mess but know that these guys play the game with as much passion as anyone in any sport.With that said,in my opinion, the other goalie should have attempted to protect himself,whether he wanted "to go" or not.As far as the "light" suspension goes,keep in mind that somewhere,someday,J. Roy will meet up with at least one of those opposing players again and will get paid back one way or another.When that happens,we'll see how Papa Roy reacts to that.
Like Father like Son. This time Pat-trick and Jon Jr. left thier mother out of it.(Thank god) Class act from a little brat and a coach who should know better. What a siv
A big reason I love hockey is because I can't stand all the other sports. And the reason I hate other sports is because officials over-regulate every single sport out there. More times than not, refs make lopsided calls, give unfair advantage to one team or the other and sway momentum at crucial moments. Take a look at most of the March Madness games, you will see plenty of questionable calls that ultimately influence the final outcome of the game. I strongly believe the game, whatever it is, should be played on the field, the court or the rink, with as little interuption as possible. I love the violence in hockey, I love that the fate of a player and a team is the responsibility of the players playing the game, and if someone makes a cheap play, they will pay for it sooner or later in a personal way. Pure sport is usually found when you are a kid playing a pickup game down at the sandlot, or in somebody's backyard. The beauty of pond hockey is, the players take care of business between themselves on the ice. Maybe it's because a penalty in hockey does not necessarily result in points for the other team?, because hard work, smarts and hustle will kill a penalty in hockey, which is a test to show a teams' heart and resolve. That's the beauty of hockey, the way the rules are set-up and the way the game is played reduces the influence that a ref has over the game and puts it on the players, which is the way it should be.
I agree with the comment about Roy's son eventually having to face one of those opposing players again and getting what he has coming to him. Patrick Roy is an expert at that and could explain it to his son maybe, while he shows old videos of Red Wings/Avalanche games and what happens when you attack someone on an opposing team with no reason other than to cause an injury. But he can rest easy, if it doesn't work out for him in hockey, he can always get married and take it out on his wife.
"roys jersey was never raised to the rafters. and after this, to top off all the off ice and the way he left montreal, it will be a long time that it will happen."
They do not hang jerseys in the Pepsi Center, they do hang the players numbers in the rafter after they retire the number. Obviously you have never been to the Pepsi Center, learn the facts before you talk.
