FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Sports

Sticking Up for Teammates in Hockey Is Stupid

Starting a fight after a legal hit, or really any hit, just doesn't make any sense.
Photo by Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

There are plenty of stupid things about hockey that we have simply accepted as part of our lives — the shootout, the Anaheim Ducks' jerseys, Pierre McGuire on national television talking about junior hockey teams.

But easily the stupidest and worst part of hockey was on display (twice!) Tuesday night in New Jersey.

In the final minute of the first period, the Devils' Travis Zajac was pushed from behind and into the boards by the Vancouver Canucks' Michael Chaput. Zajac's face absorbed most of the impact and left the Devils' leading scorer bloody and motionless on the ice for several seconds.

Advertisement

Early in the second period, there was an even scarier hit, as the Devils' Taylor Hall annihilated the Canucks' Philip Larsen with a clean-but-devastating hit that left Larsen unconscious on the ice. He had to be taken off on a stretcher, and spent the night in a hospital before flying home to Vancouver the next day.

There's nothing stupid about those hits; it's what happened immediately after that makes less sense and is much more dangerous than McGuire getting uncomfortably close to a player's face during an on-ice interview.

Read More: The Toronto Maple Leafs Will Make the Playoffs … Maybe

With a trainer shuffling along the ice to give Zajac medical attention, the Devils' John Moore attacked Chaput and attempted to fight him. Chaput refused to oblige so Moore was hit with 17 minutes in penalties. The Canucks scored on the ensuing power play.

With Larsen out cold on his back, this time it was Chaput trying to fight Hall in retaliation for what he deemed a fight-worthy hit. The difference this time was all the skaters convened around Larsen's prone body, which resulted in Chaput kicking Larsen in the head and the Devils' Kyle Quincey doing the same as he jumped over Larsen to join the fray.

Also, the Devils were awarded a power play with Chaput in the penalty box and scored on it.

There is nothing quite as dumb as the NHL's "sticking up for a teammate" culture. Nothing holds a candle to the idea of coming to the defense of someone that was just the victim of either a clean or dirty hit in a sport that tells you upfront that you could be the victim of a clean or dirty hit. It's an extreme case, but this Pavlovian response could have resulted in Larsen suffering a spinal injury or having his throat sliced, all in the name of restoring the honor of someone who was contacted in a contact sport.

Advertisement

It was such a ridiculously stupid scene that goaltender Jacob Markstrom attempted to make himself a human shield so Larsen wouldn't be further injured.

Even if the brouhaha took place 40 feet away from seriously injured Larsen … what the hell are you people doing?

Vancouver's Philip Larsen was knocked out cold by a legal hit from the Devils' Taylor Hall. Photo by Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

Here are two quotes that neither player said but that we are making up to show the absurdity of this stick up for your teammate code:

"John Moore coming after me really put things in perspective," Chaput said as he stared longingly in the distance, contemplating his existence and the meaning of all things. "When I hit Zajac, I didn't consider the consequences. I didn't think about what I was taking from him—his balance, his health, but most importantly, his honor. John trying to fight me was enough to convince me that I should never do that again. Thank you, John. You did a great thing not just for your teammate, but for me."

"When I woke up in the hospital, groggy and in pain, my first thought was, 'Did my teammates stick up for me?'" Larsen said. "It was my first concern. I asked the nurses, the doctors, and they looked at me like I was insane. They just don't get how important it is to stick up for teammates. But once I saw the highlights, this warmth filled my heart because I knew my teammates cared deeply for me. Yeah, seeing skate blades that close to my throat was like something out of a horror movie where the killer films himself holding a knife over a sleeping person, but knowing my teammates love me enough to risk my life to fight someone else, you can't put a price on that."

Advertisement

See how silly it sounds? Nobody ever says this kind of stuff.

There are two situations where players will feel the need to stick up for a teammate — after a dirty hit and after a legal hit, and it's hard to decide which is dumber.

After a dirty hit, your team will be awarded either a two-minute or five-minute power play. If it's the former, your dumbass will negate the two-minute power play; if it's the latter, you're turning down five consecutive minutes of power-play time because you want to be a good guy.

After a clean hit, SUCK IT UP MAN IT'S HOCKEY PEOPLE GET ROCKED WITH CLEAN HITS SOMETIMES AND NOW YOU'RE LEAVING YOUR TEAM SHORTHANDED OVER SOME BULLSHIT HONOR CODE.

Hockey players: You are not allowed to enjoy the unofficial title of "toughest athletes in the world" if you can't take a hit or watch a teammate absorb a hit without crying about it. How can we in exist in a world where players simultaneously complain about the physical nature of the game fading away while also trying to fight anyone that hits someone too hard?

Referees are on the ice to call penalties. It's their jobs. That the NHL condones this half-assed vigilante justice for legal and illegal hits is one of those problems that won't go away until the league doles out severe punishments for it. This would require legislating fighting out of the game, or offering suspensions for anyone that throws a bare-knuckle punch, and either of those options are a few years away at best.

I've tried to imagine being in the position of a player that is the victim of a headshot or a hit from behind that leaves me spitting teeth on the ice. Maybe this is one of the dozen reasons I am not a professional hockey player, but I'd get way more satisfaction out of watching my teammates score on the ensuing power play while a doctor is stitching my lip back to my face than trying to fight the guy who hit me.

Hockey players are not your kid brother getting bullied at the playground by older boys; they are grown adults that (presumably) understand the consequences of stepping on the ice. Standing up for a teammate is pointless, unnecessary and sometimes more detrimental to your team than the hit you're mad about.

Want to read more stories like this from VICE Sports? Subscribe to our daily newsletter.