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An Indefinite Suspension Without A Media Circus
by PuckStopsHere on 10/12/08 at 06:21 AM ET
Comments (5)
Mike Peca of the Columbus Blue Jackets has been suspended indefinitely for his actions in Friday night’s game where the Blue Jackets played in Dallas against the Stars. The Blue Jackets won the game 5-4 in overtime. In the second period, Mike Peca appears to have been tripped by Dallas forward Brenden Morrow immediately before Dallas scored to tie the game at 1-1. This occurred during a Dallas two man advantage. Peca was upset with the non-call of the penalty and was arguing it with referee Greg Kimmerly. Peca grabbed Kimmerly’s arm as the referee skated away to try to argue his case. Peca was given a 10 minute misconduct and a game misconduct for abuse of an official. It is likely that this event will garner a 10 game suspension for Mike Peca (abuse of officials has a minimum 10 game suspension according to Rule 41, Category 2). If that occurs, it will place Peca on the list of the longest NHL suspensions ever. Is this one of the worst events in NHL history?
What is refreshing to me about this situation (in a bit of an odd way) is the lack of a media push for a huge suspension. In some of the more recent indefinite suspensions, Todd Bertuzzi and Marty McSorely, there was a huge amount of media attention condemning the players involved (and to a lesser degree hockey in general). The reasons for that include the fact that those events were attempts to injure people and there is no way to interpret grabbing someone’s arm as intent to injure. Also, the overall lack of footage of the incident helps to downplay the media attention. Footage does exist. It is a handheld video camera from a fan at the game. Here it is:
The incident where Peca is tripped occurs around the 1:07 mark of the footage. Peca does appear to grab Kimmerly’s arm not too long after that.
I am in no way condoning violence against officials (and this is not violence against an official), but I think the suspension will be disproportionate to the crime. Peca may deserve a suspension for grabbing an official, but this is not one of the worst incidents in NHL history and it should not get one of the longest suspensions in NHL history.
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Tags: Columbus+Blue+Jackets, Mike+Peca,
Comments
The league is looking for video of the incident. On the radio they said the league is having a hard time finding anything of the incident. You may want to let the league know of this video, it seems to help Pecas case.
Posted by tg on 10/12/08 at 10:28 AM ET
Considering how much negotiation and drama there is over so many suspensions that are more deserved, I think it would be better to have a lesser initial mandatory penalty - say two games for making any kind of intentional contact with an official, however innocuous, with the option of increasing it to ten games or so if it goes beyond a minor incident.
Pronger has been supended more times than anyone else - but I don’t think any of his suspensions was ten games, going from memory. I remember a lot of one-game deals with an awful lot of justification that the elbow or stomp or whatever wasn’t really as bad as it looked.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 10/12/08 at 07:59 PM ET
1) Geez, surprised he even got tossed. He must have used some colourful language as well as tug on the refs shirt. Agree though that anything more than a fine, and MAYBE a game off would be excessive considering the other suspensions that have occurred and Peca doesn’t have a track record that we can recall for being a jerk.(to officials)
Posted by Faux Rumors from Globally- Here, there, Everywhere on 10/13/08 at 02:02 PM ET
There’s a reason for the 10-game minimum suspension - it indicates a severe penalty for abuse of officials. The iron-clad rule becomes more important when considering NHL history (Richard riots, anyone?).
Does Peca deserve a 10-game suspension?
Well, if grabbing a referees arm is defined as abuse, then yes. The definition of what is considered appropriate and what is considered abusive varies by context. Parents screaming at their children can quite rightly be considered a form of abuse. The same goes for attacks on employees’ characters at a workplace. Grab the hand of a random person on the street or push a policeman and you’ll probably face charges of assault and battery.
The NHL permits a range of violent actions by players towards other players. Referees are not players, and the players’ actions toward each other have no bearing on what is allowed toward the referees.
I think the key issue here is not that Peca’s suspension is too harsh, but that other, more ‘serious’ or ‘newsworthy’ suspensions were too low.
Posted by CheGordito on 10/14/08 at 12:22 PM ET
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No doubt. I watched that game and actually had idea what had happened. It apparently didn’t affect the manpower advantage.
I’m all for supplemental discipline when it comes to referee abuse. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous the amount of screaming at refs that occurs in baseball. So I’m okay with suspending Peca. But he should get one game, maybe two games max. If it’s obvious he wasn’t trying to hurt the ref, he shouldn’t get ten games. I bet the PA will lobby to get this rule changed if he actually gets 10 games.
Posted by Mojo Tooth on 10/12/08 at 10:26 AM ET