Sean Avery

So, according to sportsnet, it looks like the New York Rangers are working to bring Sean Avery back in the fold. I may be in the minority, but I'm looking forward to seeing Avery back in the NHL. I think he needs to work on being more of a team guy so he is respected in the dressing room, but I hope he doesn't change his personality and comments in front of the microphone.

I love hockey, but I think the culture of the sport has an enormous bug up it's ass. The old school establishment of hockey has a tough time dealing with people with people that fit outside the "norm" of what a hockey character should be. That is... guys who dress in the same black suits, and when interviewed give the same stock answers about 110%, compliment the other team, and don't try to overshadow anything. You know, the typical respectable clean-cut kid from Canada. Once people go outside this norm, the sport has an incredibly difficult time figuring out what to do.

One reason why the NFL is so popular I believe, is the wide range of characters in the league from all kinds of backgrounds that appeal to wide range of people. Hot dogs like Terrell Owens, Randy Moss or Chad Johnson who do well at marketing the sport with their antics (love them or hate them). Lots of people relate to that. Myself, I'm kind of a dork so I relate more to the Manning brothers. You've got Ricky Williams, whose troubles with pot relates to a VERY large number of people.

In hockey, characters like this a few and far between. Jeremy Roenick is one who will have a great career in broadcasting once he is done playing. However, I look at what has happened to Ray Emery as evidence of hockey's close minded nature. Hockey doesn't have a lot of black players, and Emery was the first that really strongly embraced black cultural elements that are driven a lot from the hip-hop culture. He drove a large vehicle that looked like it had been customized by Xhibit. Instead of the black suit, he wore designer suits of different colours (similar to what guys like Kobe Bryant wear). What does the hockey establishment do, focus on him being late for practice, saying he's a cancer in the locker room, etc... Emery then gets banished to Russia. Looking at Ottawa's performance this year, I think its clear that Ray Emery was not the problem with the Senators.

I'm not saying the hockey establishment is racist, as Jerome Iginla is one of their most marketed athletes. However, Jerome is a clean cut Canadian from St. Albert, Alberta. I am saying that hockey needs to open its mind and let its 'characters' market the game as well. Avery may need to tone it down a bit when he comes back, but he shouldn't stop trying to sell the game because ultimately that is what he is trying to do. Maybe commenting on the various famous puck bunnies isn't the way to do it but guess what - it got hockey noticed. As did Emery fighting two guys on Buffalo a couple years ago.

Keep on talking Avery!

Fighting in hockey

So with all this talk about fighting in hockey that has come up lately I figured I'd give my two cents. As one would expect with my blog, I'll talk about things I have an opinion on, so it really could be about anything :-). Today it's hockey and the hyped up discussion recently about fighting due to recent tragic events.

Regrettably, I have to say that Bob McCown was prophetic in his book "The 50 greatest hockey arguments" about the fact that someone would be seriously injured or killed on the ice in a hockey fight. I'm sure we've all heard about the young man that was killed in an Ontario senior hockey game, and with former Saskatoon Blade Garrett Klotz having a seizure on the ice recently as well after a fight. Now, for people who don't know McCown he is an advocate for taking fighting out of the game, and that point has become more valid lately.

Myself, I believe fighting has a place in hockey but the way it is used in the game now has made it less relevant. Now, it is largely a regular season spectacle between heavyweights. The fights are prearranged by the tough guys before the games, and sometime when the enforcers get on the ice at the same time for one of their 3 shifts they will get all game they drop the mitts. To me, this aspect of fighting needs to be removed from the game somehow. Otherwise, when San Jose and Minnesota play next time you might as well put "San Jose vs Minnesota with undercard Boogaard vs Shelley" on the marquee in front of the Excel Energy Center. This is a spectacle that undermines the legitimacy of my favourite sport.

Somehow I wish hockey could find a way to get rid of the "enforcer only" player. You know the guys - Boogaard, Shelley, Grimson, Godard, Ivanans, Boll - the guys who take up the 12th forward spot, get little icetime and only fight. Growing up in the 80s and early 90s I remember the enforcer who could also play hockey. Probert scored 20 goals a few times, McSorley was a decent defenseman, Chris Simon was good for 15-20 goals. The only player I can think of like that now is Chris Neil of the Senators. Not sure how more of these types are developed, but the NHL needs them.

The aspect of fighting that I love are the fights that start in the heat of the battle, when emotions are high and tempers flare up. Nothing wrong with that at all. Remember Iginla and Lecavalier in the 2004 playoffs? Comrie and Kovalchuk? Iginla and Hatcher? These are the types of fights that belong in the game because they aren't staged and happen in the heat of the game. How you keep one style of fighting but not the other I have no idea.

The last thing, something also needs to be done about this B.S. about "protecting your teammates". I'm talking about when a player gets hit by a good clean check and a fight breaks out afterwards. Don Cherry loves this crap. I think it's bush league. Hitting is part of the game, and players shouldn't be worried about having to fight if they deliver a nice CLEAN hit. I think about the weekend when Luke Schenn gave Malkin a bit of a ride into the boards. A nice clean hit that knocked Malkin down. However, Malkin got right up and back into the play and didn't even miss a shift. After the shift is done, Schenn gets jumped and Pittsburgh is down a man. You don't see fights in football after a Linebacker nails a running back with a good lick. If the running back got up and went after the Linebacker, the running back would likely be out of the game. What is the difference in hockey? Both are contact sports, why is there some false "code" in hockey and not in football? Cheap shots are one thing, but good clean htis are another.

Anyways, enough for today.

Cheers.