How many games should Boulerice get?
Jesse Boulerice gave hockey a bad name yet again on Wednesday night with his crosscheck to the face of Vancouver Canuck forward Ryan Kesler. This is the second time in less than a month that a member of the Philadelphia Flyers has been in trouble for injuring a player and this incident was far worse than Steve Downie hitting Dean McAmmond, for which he was suspended 20 games.
Not to condone what Downie, because we certainly can’t do that, but at least he was attempting a legal hit on McAmmond, with his shoulder. What Boulerice did to Kesler was just a very cheap shot, using his stick as a weapon. I suggest that the NHL has to get serious with this type of incident and they should suspend Boulerice for 30 games. In addition, Boulerice should not be allowed to play against the Canucks for the next five years, or against Kesler, should he be traded, for a similar length of time.
Whenever a player gets suspended, the team that has been victimized never gets a break. As a matter of fact, the victimized team loses out, as they have usually lost the injured player for a period of time and the opposing teams don’t meet that often. That’s why the suspended player, Boulerice in this case, should be barred from playing the victimized team for the five years.
That would certainly make a lot of players think.
Comments
I defintley agree, i feel the NHL should follow the example of the NFL.
Posted by: Peter Melo | October 12, 2007 10:48 AM
How about something a bit simpler. The suspension should be 3x the length of time that the injured player misses due to the injury.
So, if Kesler misses 30 games due to his injury, Boulerice misses 90 for the hit.
If Boulerice never takes to the ice again, Kesler has effectively ended his own career too.
The penalized team should also be barred from trading or releasing the suspended player as well.
Posted by: Beagle | October 12, 2007 11:02 AM
Beagle's idea wouldn't work in this case because Kesler is going to play in the next game ... Give a goon like Boulerice at least a half season.
Posted by: therealmccabe | October 12, 2007 01:41 PM
As per all suspensions it is always tough. The results usually come down to how hurt the injured player is and how many games he will miss. I feel that the # number of games Boulerice got was fair......but to not play against the same team>>>>that wouldnt sit well with the league when it comes time to getting even!!! ie fans in the rinks.......
Posted by: shel the man | October 12, 2007 05:35 PM
Yeah the going rate is 25 or something isn't it? So I think something within that vicinity would be good.
I'm gonna try to play devils advocate here, and maybe bring in a new perspective. Hockey is a physical sport with instruments always in hand and the equipment acts as an extension to the body... It's not like baseball, where you use a bat and then drop it when you hit a ball, it's not like basketball where you are constantly passing and dribbling it, and it's not like football where the equipment is attached to the player and not an extension of a player. So for a hockey player to use that instrument as a device to gain an advantage I don't really see that being THAT bad... crosschecking is part of hockey everyone cross checks, it just so happened that this was high. Hockey even in a way condone fighting, its a tough physical sport, should we take that into consideration?
Plus we don't really know what happened between Kesler and Boulerice, maybe Kesler slashed him a couplea times or something prior to the incident that caused Boulerice to react the way that he did. I don't think any athlete means to hurt anyone deliberately, but in the heat of the game things happen.
However many games he gets suspended for he deserves, cause at the end of the day he did injure an opposing player. I think he did this in juniors or something a few years back as well, so this isn't his first time. But perhaps maybe we should take into consideration the physical nature of the game, as well as the heat of the moment?
I agree with benching him for all future games with the Nucks... Canadian hockey fans are brutal, he wouldn't leave the city alive if he was playing in Vancouver. I understand they want retribution, but if he played against the nucks, I could see the problem getting worst because of the revenge factor than getting better and letting him play.
Posted by: Gotlaid | October 12, 2007 06:43 PM