ON THE POND

by The Original JD, Six Pack Sports Report

It's Tuesday morning and that can mean only one thing - it's time for another episode of one guys favorite Epic Carnival column "On The Pond" with JD. I'm going to use a video clip this week because I want to talk about one of the major problems the NHL has and it is in the way with which they police their own players. Hockey fans already know that I'm going to talk about Mattias Ohlund who got a 4 game suspension for a slash on Mikko Koivu of the Minnesota Wild. Non hockey fans probably haven't seen the video so I'll post the video after the jump so those of you who missed it can see what happened.

Heading into the clip though I should clarify a few things: Koivu obviously throws an elbow into Ohlund's face, it was a dirty move (a similar move wound up costing Aaron Ward of the Bruins a week of games due to a minor concussion) and it warranted Ohlund doing something about it. However, you don't intentionally slash a guy in the leg like this and because Ohlund was a chicken about how he handled the situation (read: did not fly his fists) Koivu has a broken leg and suddenly Ohlund is a villain around the league.

The result of that play was a broken leg for Koivu and a four game suspension for Ohlund. If those results seem to be a bit off kilter then you are beginning to realize one of the major flaws in the NHL. When Randy Jones of the Philadelphia Flyers took a cheap shot at Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins that possibly ended his season, and might have ended his career he was given a 2 game suspension. The guilty party missed less then a weak, while the victim of the cheap shot is out for who knows how long. Are we beginning to see a pattern?

Some players and fans of the NHL have proposed the ridiculous "suspension until the victim returns" which seems excessive. I mean granted the Jones shot on Bergeron was cheap and he deserves to miss some time but you never know how long the rehab process will take so I wouldn't go to that much of an extreme. However, 4 games for attacking someone with a weapon (and make no mistake a hockey stick is a weapon) and breaking their leg seems to be going in the other direction.

Everyone loves (or at least loved) fighting in the NHL. It was a way for the players to police themselves; if you had a problem you dropped the gloves and you solved it like men on the ice. In the new NHL fighting seems to be either a lost art form, or just all out frowned upon to the point where a cheap shot like the one by Ohlund is more popular then settling your problems on the ice. If the NHL ever wants to be taken seriously again as a major sport in the United States they're going to have to show people that things like the act committed by Ohlund will not be taken lightly. For a league that has done everything in their power to solve doping, steroids, and gambling problems it's amazing that they're so slow on the uptake about the protection of their own players.

On an unrelated note I have some somber news this morning as this will be the last edition of "On The Pond" here at Epic Carnival that I'm going to write. That's right JD-aholics this is my last column for the Carnies. I just wanted to use this last paragraph to say thanks to Doug Sheckler for giving me a platform to talk about whatever I wanted to talk about - and being very patient with me while I blew off deadline after deadline. Most readers of EC have no idea how much patience Doug has to make sure this place runs smoothly without using a weight bench for it's unintended purpose. I was a part of Epic Carnival on Day 1 and in a perfect world I'll be back later on down the road but for now I'm going to tip my hat and slink off into the sunset - leave you in the hands of the rest of the Carnies. You can all find me at that other place I will still be writing but if I never get another chance to talk to you all I'd love to say it's been fun but I promised Doug I wouldn't lie. Peace and love.

JD