This season so far has been full of shocks. Dundee sitting at the top of the Elite League standings, Sheffield being unable to string two results together and Cardiff under performing to name but a few. However Saturday evening saw an event which I don't think that many people were surprised about.
The Dundee Stars were the visitors to the most versatile arena in sports history, or Hull in simpler terms. The game was poised at 2-1 to the Stars in the third period when Derek Campbell bought shame not only on himself, but the Hull Stringrays and British Ice Hockey.
After being checked against the boards by Dundee's Nico Sacchetti, Campbell decided that he would take retribution. Fair enough, I don't have a problem with that. Hockey is a physical sport and I am one of those people who enjoys that side of things, however what I do have a problem with is how Campbell went about it.
Firstly after looking at the video several times, Campbell is third or fourth man in. A team mate had already decided to take a pop at Sacchetti and as such would Campbell not have been better waiting and dropping the gloves at some point during the rest of the period? However where things become completely unacceptable is when Campbell decides to continue his grievance off the ice. The sheer stupidity of this cannot be put into words especially as the Stringrays fans were in close attendance. What if there had been small children about?
So Campbell was given a match penalty and sat out the return game in Dundee the next evening. As of writing this, the off the ice incident is still being reviewed and no formal punishment has been handed out. In my opinion, I think an example needs to be made of Campbell here and a 10 game ban would be sufficient. I know some people may read this and that Andrew Conboy of the Devils only got a 6 game ban for abuse of an official, however a marker has got to be laid about how players behave once they've left the ice.
I have just read that the Stingrays have released Campbell with immediate effect. Although they haven't at this stage disclosed why, one would assume it is following his behaviour at the weekend. I just want to congratulate whoever it was in the Stingrays organisation for making this decision. This is what sending the right message is all about!!
But then it got me thinking about the officiating this season when it comes to the physical aspect of the sport and whether fighting has a place in the game still. I read a great blog by Murph On Ice last week on whether there is a place for it and I thought I would share my views.
Staged fighting is a no no. When we had signed Alex Penner a few seasons back, the first time he dropped his gloves pretty much straight from the opening whistle was almost entertaining, but mainly because of all the hype he attracted and I wanted to see what he was capable of. However when this became almost a regular occurrence it became tiresome and boring. It had no impact on the game at all.
However fighting to either settle an on ice incident or perhaps change the momentum of the game is something I think belongs in hockey. One of the most frustrating things I have found is when an incident is not settled straight away. For example when player 'a' checks player 'b' into the boards and player 'b' takes exception, let them settle the matter by dropping the gloves. It is tedious watching player 'b' chase player 'a' around the ice for the next few shifts aiming to get some sort of revenge, it detracts from the strategies of the team as a whole. Obviously if player a doesn't want to back it up with his fists then there is nothing that can be done. Although this brings me on to my next problem, the officiating...
Am I the only one who thinks that this season the officials are far too quick to get in between players and break things up? You take the incident between Henley and Zajac at the weekend. I am not condoning Henley's actions one bit, I think he deserved the 10 minute misconduct penalty. My argument is that would we have got to that point had Zajac and Henley been allowed to drop the gloves long before that? I don't know for sure whether Zajac was prepared to fight Henley but in my view they weren't really given the opportunity to find out due to over zealous officiating.
Separately, I wanted to congratulate the Clan for a battling performance on Saturday night. I felt they were a little unlucky to lose and I really enjoyed watching their netminder Kyle Jones. His movement around the crease was fantastic and he looks like a great pick up for the Clan this season. I have been quick to berate Ryan Finnerty for what I perceived to be 'goon squad' tactics whilst in charge at Sheffield, but on Saturday night his side were well drilled, hustled well and by and large avoided unnecessary penalties. Despite the loss of Nathan Moon today, I can understand that the opportunity he has cannot be missed but still would have liked him to show some respect by seeing out a notice period, I think the Clan fans can be positive of the prospects for the upcoming season.
My 'Blog From Block 15' award of the week goes to Ryan Finnerty. As mentioned above, he has learnt from his mistakes in Sheffield and had his side been a little more clinical in front of net on Saturday night then the Clan would have almost certainly left with the 2 points. Going forward he will almost certainly want to see a greater return than 2 goals from 42 shots. Finnerty was a player and coach that I used to love to hate, but this season so far the hate is subsiding to a quiet respect.
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