Simon’s slash not the last

One thing Colin Campbell knew when he handed down a 25-game suspension to Chris Simon: No amount of games would be enough of a deterrent for this to not happen again. To assume otherwise would be naive. As long as hitting and fighting are a part of the game – and make no mistake about it, physical intimidation is a huge tactic in hockey at all levels – there will be players who lose self-control and go over the line. And when they cross the line, they drag the sport along with them. Do you honestly believe Simon’s 25-gamer will prevent another major incident from happening? Not a chance. That’s because many of the ugly incidents that occur in hockey are reactionary plays, the Todd Bertuzzi attack on Steve Moore notwithstanding. Hockey has…

2006-07 Statistics

For reform, we need effort

THE CAM JANSSEN-TOMAS KABERLE incident reinforced the notion that, for better or worse, Toronto is indeed the center of the professional hockey universe. The media explosion surrounding the illegal, but not all-that-uncommon late hit was typically incendiary in a town that craves hockey infernos and it burned for days. For those who don’t live here or who haven’t witnessed the hysteria, shinny is the dominant topic of conversation in offices and school-yards, on radio and TV stations. Four daily newspapers compete for hockey scoops. One all-sports radio station talks pucks almost all the time; the Leafs’ rights holder devotes several hours daily to the local heroes/bums. The vast majority of the primary Canadian national TV coverage originates from Toronto. And, yes, The Hockey News is published here. You’d be tempted to…

Eye of the Tiger

The year was 2004 and Ray Emery was gaining a reputation as something of an on-ice lunatic. The Ottawa Senators were growing deeply concerned about their prospect’s violent outbursts, concerns that became full-blown fears after Emery two-handed Michel Ouellet of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins with his stick, then punched him in the face in an American League game. The AHL gave Emery a choice – a 10-game suspension that would be reduced to five if he agreed to attend anger-management therapy. So off Emery trudged to a psychologist to tame the beast within. “I went for a half-hour to this shrink, pretty much,” Emery said. “And after 10 minutes, he says, ‘Well, you don’t really need to be here. You seem pretty well put together. You play a contact sport and you let your…