Search

ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
WORLD NEWS

NHL should enforce longer suspensions

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Mike Jenkins

Hockey Season. Two of my favorite words. It had been almost 120 days since I last saw my favorite sport on television. Which sport? Hockey, the fast-skating game in which grit and guts are necessary and where you are likely to get injured a few times before the season is over. But, injuries like the one that was inflicted to Mike Modano of the Dallas Stars the other night was gruesome and deplorable.

As I was flipping through channels on the television, I came across the game between the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and the defending Stanley Cup Champion Dallas Stars. Within two minutes of watching this game, the Stars' Modano was on a breakaway. After he shot the puck, Modano was in an awkward position when Anaheim's Ruslan Salei, a known cheap-shot artist, cross-checked Modano from behind. Modano went flying into the boards, head first. His neck went one way, his body the other. He looked like a human pretzel. His neck bounced back like a bungee cord and he immediately grimaced in pain. Fans felt that the worst had happened to one of the game's brightest Stars. Modano could have easily been paralyzed, even killed by the cheap shot.

Thankfully though, Modano only suffered strained tendons in his neck and a slight concussion. His prognosis is that he is lucky that he escaped serious injury and that he will play again this season.

I am not a Dallas Stars fan. In fact, they are one of my least favorite teams in all of sports. But, I am a die-hard hockey fan and hits like the one delivered by Salei have to stop before somebody dies. Salei is not known as a goon, but as a coward. He is a repeat offender of cheap shots.

Last year he was suspended six games for slewfooting Daniel Briere of the Phoenix Coyotes.

Players like Salei are ruining the game of hockey. He received his suspension from the league discipline committee on Tuesday and was suspended for 10 games. Ten games! That's a joke. Modano could have died. It's kind of humorous to me that the discipline committee waits to discover the severity of the injury before handing down a suspension. Ten games for a sprained neck and a concussion. I wonder what a broken neck goes for? 15 games? What about severe head trauma? 20?

The NHL should enforce stiffer suspensions to send a message that this kind of activity will not be tolerated. Suspend Salei for half or all of the season. Suspensions like these will deter reckless players from creating situations where someone can seriously get hurt.

My feeling though, is that it will take a death for the NHL to change their way of thinking.

My condolences to the family of the player it will take to change the NHL's thinking.