The Final Call (44 page)

The culture of dangerous high hits has persisted and many players have become victims of this “good hockey play” mentality as careers remain in jeopardy. Let me make it clear: I have no interest in “sissifying” the game or taking hitting out of it. On the contrary, it is my desire to see a game that includes hard body checks, but also a game where players don’t check up and target or make the head of their opponent the principal point of contact. I believe it is possible to have one without the other. To accomplish this initiative, a clear understanding must be established within the hockey community that what is presently taking place is no longer acceptable. There must be clearly defined parameters on acceptable checking methods, including point of contact. Players that do not comply must be held accountable through strict rules and meaningful suspensions. I would much rather see lengthy player suspensions mandated to deter deliberate head contact than
to witness the devastating high hits that are placing careers in jeopardy and players’ future health at risk.

I think we all would agree that since hockey is a contact sport, injury can and will result. However, I don’t agree with those who rely on this rationale to avoid necessary steps to change the dangerous culture of head hitting that prevails. Football, not unlike hockey, is a contact sport. The National Football League, however, recognizes the medical evidence that is now available and has taken strong action against helmet-to-helmet contact that was previously deemed legal in their game. We all love this game of hockey and have the same objective of making it better, faster, more exciting. But we can’t do it without our great players on the ice. We need to add making the game
safer
as a primary focus at this time. All players, from the most skilled players like Sidney Crosby down to utility players that play a limited role, deserve the most reasonable and responsible protection that the game can afford them. Governing bodies at the amateur and youth hockey levels are already taking strong measures to eliminate this dangerous epidemic from the game. Rule changes and campaigns utilizing the media and medical community are already in place to educate and instruct players, coaches, game officials, parents, and fans even prior to levels where checking is allowed. It is my honour to be part of this initiative. The National Hockey League needs to step up and lead the way in this regard.

In fairness to the NHL, it has started to take some positive steps in dealing with this issue. The standard on Rule 48 began to change with the tide during the 2010–11 season when Tom Kostopoulos received a six-game suspension for his north-south hit that broke the jaw of Red Wings defenseman, Brad Stuart. During the Stanley Cup finals in the same year, Aaron Rome of the Vancouver Canucks was suspended for four games (the balance of the Cup finals) for his late north-south hit on Boston Bruins
forward, Nathan Horton, who also missed the remainder of the finals with a severe concussion.

While ongoing education will be part of an evolutionary process of change, the immediate and primary deterrent to targeting and contact to the head must be expected, lengthy suspensions. Without implementing meaningful suspensions, positive change and prevention of serious injury will not be effected. In the chapter “Here Come the Hawks” (
this page
–
this page
), I described how in the early 1980s players were typically given a light sentence (one- or two-game suspension) for physically abusing a referee or linesman. Until a mandatory twenty-game suspension was implemented in the rule book for the 1982–83 season, it was open season on referees. When the rule was crafted by the Blue Ribbon Committee, Alan Eagleson, then-Director of the NHLPA, stated that due to the severity of the suspension it would never again happen that an official would be physically abused by a player. Eagleson was incorrect in his assumption. The night before Halloween in 1983, Tom Lysiak, one of Eagleson’s clients, was assessed a twenty-game suspension under the rule for intentionally tripping linesman Ron Foyt from behind. It only took one suspension to get the message across to players and hockey community at large that serious consequences resulted from this type of unacceptable behavior.

During the 2011 Stanley Cup final series the competition committee met and wisely recommended new language for Rule 48 by removing the verbiage “blindside.” My hope is that this time they go far enough in terms of providing strong deterrents through tough language in the rule, significant suspensions, and a firm and consistent standard of enforcement employed by every referee on staff. The NHLPA membership must be active participants in solving this problem that faces the game, their careers, and, potentially, their future health. Brendan Shanahan, who has taken over from Colin Campbell as the person in charge of supplementary discipline, will have the huge
responsibility of dealing with this serious problem. I hope the direction he can provide along with a tough standard through supplemental discipline from his new position will ultimately change the current culture of head hits. It is my sincere hope that he is up to the task and that our respective positions on this topic intersect at some point in the near future. We will all be watching closely as Rule 48 and the standard of enforcement continues to evolve.

The release of
The Final Call
in October 2010 brought about exciting new challenges with a very successful initial tour of southern Ontario, the Toronto region, and the province of Quebec. Through the many media opportunities that were presented to me, I was not only able to promote the book, but to provide a unique perspective on the game, one that I had gained through sharing NHL ice with some of the greatest players the game has ever known during my thirty-year career. It became obvious that hockey fans wanted to learn more from the inside. During the first week of December I travelled to Montreal and Quebec City for book signings which coincided with a tribute tour to Guy Lafleur. I was honoured to referee Guy’s final games as a player at both the Bell Centre and Le Colisée. His adoring fans came to pay tribute to their hero one last time. They brought along their children and grandchildren, born long after Guy played his final NHL game, to describe for them with vivid recollection of how the man they affectionately called “Flower” brought them to their feet with his end-to-end rushes, highlight-reel goals, and speed that caused his golden hair to flow behind him.

Guy played alongside his Montreal Canadiens Alumni teammates against a group of Hockey Hall of Fame Legends that included Brad Park, Marcel Dionne, Michel Goulet, Brian Leetch,
Gilbert Perreault, Pat LaFontaine, Luc Robitaille, Glenn Anderson, Dino Ciccarelli, Darryl Sittler, Peter Stastny, and Denis Savard. Former New York Islander goalie Billy Smith, one day shy of his sixtieth birthday, made some amazing saves and played with the same intensity that made him the best money goalie in the playoffs that I ever saw. Few ventured close to Smitty’s crease that afternoon as the fans were not the only ones in the building with their memories intact concerning this warrior between the pipes. Prankster and Hall of Fame defenseman, Guy Lapointe served as coach for this team of Legends. Seeing him behind the bench, I was glad that I didn’t send my skates in to be sharpened as I had in my first visit to the Montreal Forum. Jacques Demers was in his familiar spot behind the Canadiens’ bench, patting the backs of several of his players from the 1993 Stanley Cup team, as I remembered his request to measure Marty McSorley’s (of the Los Angeles Kings) stick in game two, which turned the series around and ultimately provided a Montreal Stanley Cup victory. As fate would have it, Guy Lapointe, with his Hockey Hall of Fame team down by one goal late in the third period, got a tip that Vincent Damphousse was playing with an illegal curve on his stick. Jacques Demers was now on the receiving end of this measurement, although the stakes were nowhere near as high in this tribute game. Sure enough, Damphousse’s stick was illegal. Penalty shots were assessed as opposed to time served in the box for this tribute game. I informed Guy Lapointe he could choose whoever he wanted to take the penalty shot. As he huddled with his players at the bench to decide which All-Time Great would do the honours, I skated down to Montreal goalie Jocelyn Thibault to advise him of the process though I wasn’t sure who he would be defending against. I wished him luck. Thibault groaned in helplessness when he saw the trio of Marcel Dionne, Gilbert Perreault, and Luc Robitaille bearing down on him as a unit. He shouted to me, “I was wondering how I could possibly stop one Hall of Famer; now I have three to contend with!”
While Jocelyn made a valiant effort, the end result was a foregone conclusion: tic-tac-toe passing, and the puck was in the back of the net, to the delight of the fifteen thousand plus in attendance.

A combination of age, old injuries and a lack of physical conditioning in some cases had taken a toll in reducing the blazing speed these hockey legends once possessed. What time had not been allowed to erode, however, was the boyish enthusiasm with which they played the game on this winter afternoon. The undeniable evidence of their love to play was etched in the smiles on their faces, smiles that shone as brilliantly as the goal lights they frequently illuminated from a time long since past. Even more impressive to me was the keen hockey instinct and skills that these Hall of Fame players still possessed. The fans came to honour Guy Lafleur, and he certainly received the loudest cheers, but as an added bonus, they were treated to Canada’s national game being played by what could still be described as world class athletes. I was most impressed (and even more surprised) by one player’s performance in particular. Chris “Knuckles” Nilan stole the show, not with his fists, but with a demonstration of his often-overlooked skills, and was my personal choice for first Star of the Game honours. Was this the same “Knuckles” Nilan that accused me of targeting him for excessive penalties when he appeared before NHL vice president of discipline, Brian O’Neil, in a hearing after I assessed Chris a match penalty for butt-ending Rick Middleton of the Boston Bruins in the mouth, which cleared out the front row of “Nifty’s” teeth? There were many times throughout this rugged NHL player’s career that I know I sent “Knuckles” to the penalty box. I also know I wasn’t alone in that regard since in 688 NHL games Chris spent 3,043 minutes, or almost 51 complete games, watching from the penalty box to go along with the 225 points he scored. This day in the Montreal Bell Centre, eighteen years after playing his final game in the National Hockey League as a member of the Canadiens, Chris Nilan outshone all the stars that came to
play with a display of puck handling and scoring that gave everyone in attendance (including me) reason to cheer. After a highlight-reel goal Nilan scored, I approached the Canadiens bench where Chris was seated between Mark Napier and Steve Shutt. I told Chris if he kept lighting it up like he had to this point in the game, they would be holding a special tribute game for him as well. Napier and Shutt both chimed in that if there had been a car given away for the MVP of the game, “Knuckles” would be driving home in style. While the road hasn’t always been a smooth ride for Chris Nilan, on this day he put on a skilled performance that awed those in attendance, myself included. It might just have been the only game in which I didn’t have to send Chris “Knuckles” Nilan to the penalty box.

Prior to the game at the Bell Centre in Montreal I kicked off a week of media appearances on the number one–rated French radio sports talk show hosted by my old friend and former referee colleague, Ron Fournier. Once Ron retired from the NHL as a referee, he established a very successful radio and television presence throughout the province of Quebec. Ron has often spoken to me over the years about life after refereeing and has always encouraged me to pursue a post-officiating career in broadcasting. Quite honesty, so had my family. The media gods must have been listening, because after an appearance on RDS (French TSN affiliate) with my old friends Michel Bergeron and Mario Tremblay, I received a telephone call just prior to Christmas from Steve Dryden, managing editor with TSN. Steve inquired about my availability and interest in working for TSN. More specifically, he said they wished to create a segment featuring me that would eventually be titled
C’mon Ref
, to appear on
That’s Hockey 2Nite
on TSN2 with talented show host Steve Kouleas, on whose XM radio show,
Live from Wayne Gretzky’s
,
I had appeared on the evening of my book release. Though only appearing in studio every two weeks in the beginning, I was excited about the opportunity to work with Steve Kouleas and my old friend Matthew Barnaby, and to share my unique perspective on the game.