Hockey doesn’t change. Even though the species has cleaned itself from the surface, violence and disruptive behavior in its various forms lives deep in its core now and tomorrow.
The last few weeks have been ugly to watch.
First, Kärppien Nick Ritchie threw himself into complete irresponsibility by mugging the frozen TPS Markus Nurmea I punched him in the head and neck. The Canadian’s actions went beyond the understanding of all normal human reason, but in the circle of people – at least outside the public exits – the act was for many a basic walk in the park of Aurajoki.
This is how it has always been done in Lätka, and not many people would want to be called a “number” like this.
After the Ritchie dispute had ended in an orderly eight-match ban, Spengler broke out in the Cup. Head coach of HC Davos, also familiar with HPK during his playing career Josh Holden coached, as has been coached in ice hockey for decades. The pilot’s fuses blew and he started raging and kicking his own player from the jersey on the bench Tomas Jurcoa.
Then there was a case in Norway where the Canadian-French defenseman Frisk Asker in the country’s hockey league match Olivier Dame-Malka punched Stjernen’s 18-year-old Sondre Grönlä several times to the head. Stjernen has reported the incident to the police.
Frisk Asker condemned the attack, but explained Dame-Malka’s actions with cultural differences.
Once again, action beyond comprehension – in which work community can you lead like this in 2023?
The culture of ice hockey coaching has undoubtedly developed, but underneath the surface, many people do not really disapprove of this kind of activity. All kinds of things have been done behind the benches over the years that the cameras haven’t recorded, so the Holden case doesn’t raise eyebrows.
“Pasanen (Holden) is and will remain in office”, as stated in Kummel at the time.
Boys are boys
Then we get to the NHL, where boys will be boys.
A completely incomprehensible series of events started at the turn of the year when the Winnipeg defender Brenden Dillon caused by a transverse stick Minnesota star Kirill Kaprizov a rib injury that sidelined him from real action for weeks.
Kaprizov himself called the situation that led to the injury a game situation where he put himself in a bad position. No bad blood.
The rest of the team didn’t experience the situation the same way, because in the NHL traditionally the “damages” that have happened have been solved by taking revenge. So a guaranteed sandbox section. Already on Saturday, Dillon had to fight of Jacob Middleton with what many thought would calm the situation, but what else!
When the teams met again on Sunday, Minnesota Ryan Hartman slid into the start and established the Jets’ young Canadian center For Cole Perfetti intending to hit him right in the face with a club at the start. Perfetti wasn’t even on the ice at the time of Kaprizov’s injury, and Hartman reportedly had nothing against this, but “something has to be done”.
Mind-blowing train of thought, especially when even the injured player didn’t hold a grudge.
When the puck fell to the ice, Hartman didn’t even try to play it, but actually hit Perfetti in the face with the stick. Perfetti told the media about the situation and the talks that preceded it, and what’s special, this had been in the game with a microphone, so there was an audio tape as proof of the Minnesota forward’s talks.
But what about these. The NHL stated that the act was intentional and fined the player a fair four tons.
This is hockey in the NHL. The NHL as a league probably even wants the rink to be splashed at regular intervals. It doesn’t care one bit about the health concerns of individual players as a result of the violence, if the product sells. Every actor signs this world of values, at least silently, at some point in their career. If it hits you, bad luck.
Neither hockey nor especially the NHL truly condemns overshooting. If a player in a tough category ends up on the outside, the door is always kept open and opportunities to bring the players back to the sport are constantly sought. Jarmo Kekäläinen failed this autumn in an ugly way, and no Mike Bacock managed to coach a game in the club before he was fired.
Kekäläinen’s team also recently saw an overshoot, when defender Erik Gudbranson avenged Nick Cousins’ tackle by knocking him to the ice and hitting him in the head.
Violence is accepted in the office, on the field and in the stands – why change anything?
And don’t forget the paying viewers.
Hockey fans, especially in North America, love violence and the culture of revenge, and Finland is no exception. It is deafening to notice how many hockey consumers were of the opinion that Nurmi, known as an annoying player, deserved a back sauna. Jurcokin deserved to be reinstated because he is going to play in Russia.
The hockey people always find a reason why someone deserves to get kicked.
The NHL or hockey in general only does the minimum with violence and management problems. Beneath the surface, playing bans and referee bans are belittled and poked fun at. At the same time, in Finland, players at the SM league level are surrounded by rape scandals, reports are issued about junior players who use alcohol with the blessing of the club managementcoaches humiliating players and so on.
Sport culture is and wants to be detached from normal society. It stretches every rule and moral concept to the max, and there are no signs that hockey wants to make a radical change. Individual, if repeated, excesses are more a reflection of a huge cultural bias than individual misjudgments.
If you don’t like this cover, maybe you shouldn’t jump on the hockey bandwagon. This is how the species itself seems to think.
It is unfortunate from its own point of view that more and more people, especially in Finland, seem to have difficulties jumping on a stroller, coming to matches or bringing their offspring to the unreasonably expensive sport. The reports I heard from the field about the sharp decline in the number of hobbyists in Finland are one example of this.