CrashingTheGoalie

by Ron Spence

There’s been a recent trend: when a player is hit – cleanly by NHL standards – his teammates go after the hitter.

This accounts for many of the NHL’s fighting majors.

Our penal systems are based on deterrence and punishment.

Beating up a player is a punishment, but is it a deterrent?

courtesy of cbc.ca

The Daily Herald’s Tim Sassone believes so (The Hockey News contributor was nominated for the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson award in 2007, and has covered the Blackhawks for the past two decades.).

After Willie Mitchell nailed Toews, Sassone wrote:

“The fact that it was the 5-foot-10, 180-pound Versteeg jumping in with Mitchell leads back to the question a lot of Hawks fans have been asking since training camp: Does this team need a tough guy, a deterrent for those opposing players wishing to take runs at Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp and the other skilled forwards?”

Versteeg added:

“You just try to go in and help your guy and see, I guess, what the damage is after. I really didn’t see the hit, but when you see a guy go down like that, especially your captain, you’ve got to respond. It’s nothing new to the league.”

Sassone continues:

“The Hawks did a great job being physical in the playoffs last spring, but the regular season is different story. Teams take more liberties because the stakes aren’t as high.
So far since the start of training camp general manager Stan Bowman has acquired three forwards in Radek Smolenak (not very good), Kyle Greentree (in the minors) and Andrew Ebbett (very small).
Maybe it’s time to go looking for a legitimate tough guy before someone else gets taken out.”

After watching the parade of “dirty hits” this past weekend, it’s obvious that the wrath of rival enforcers isn’t a deterrent.

And it’s interesting that Sasson’s bio notes that he “still has a soft spot in his heart for former Hawks defenseman Dave Manson.”

Manson is remembered for some questionable hits.