Kostopoulos suspended three games for hit on Van Ryn
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3694564
Brief Summary of the Story:
In the NHL, Montreal Canadians player Tom Kostopoulos was suspended for three games without his salary of roughly $33,000 for those three games for his check from behind on Toronto Maple Leafs player Mike Van Ryn that left Van Ryn with a concussion, broken nose, and broken hand. Van Ryn will be out for a least a month with the injury. In the game, Kostopoulos received a five-minute penalty and game misconduct.
Overall Analysis:
The overall attitude of the users was very much unified in a support of the suspension and being upset with the level of violence. There were many who supported the suspension and wished the league would have enforced an even harder suspension due to the aggressive nature of the violence and the result of serious injury. There was one particular user who was in support of violence as being a part of the sport of hockey. This particular user did dominate the conversation as many of the other users addressed him in their comments. This user was very adamant in thinking that Van Ryan played a major role in the violence. There also seemed to be a recurring reference to inconsistency of enforcing rules by the league.
Comments of interest:
This comment reflects an attitude that does not really address the nature of the violence but does not believe the violence was intentional and could have been avoided by the person who was hit. Though the user later makes a comment that alludes that he does not consider the violence to be an important matter.
I’ll be the voice of dissension. The majority of the blame is on Van Ryn – the footage shows him clearly looking back over his shoulder to see Kostopoulos coming at him, so he knows the check is coming. He then turns to face the boards at the last minute, to draw a penalty? to hope that TK goes easy on him?
This comment reflects the initiative that many of the users took in talking about reform. Instead of passive comments, there was a unified discussion of a fair way to try and curb the violence and improve the league and the overall safety of the athletes. This was actually the first post of the blog and stimulated much of the conversation that followed.
Probably about right. Even if he isn’t considered a dirty player and he didn’t intend to injure Van Ryn, something has to be done. The “code” as they say, is not alive and well out there on the ice. Maybe more 3-5 game suspensions will help bring it back. Or, make the player who injured the other sit out as many games as the guy he put out? Too much? Just a thought…
The above comment reflects the thought that the punishment for the excessive violence was not high enough and also reflects the recurring comparison to past events showing the users displeasure with an inconstancy of enforcement of rules.
“Glad to see it though I think he deserved more. Now my question is, why did a nearly identical play (Bergeron last year) get a two game suspension for Randy Jones? I realize it is only one game, but it is still a difference… what gives?
My Personal Bias:
My personal bias towards this story comes from the fact that I generally think of hockey as one of the few excessively violent sports. I understand violence in sports but I think that hockey takes violence to another level and actually encourages it. I respect that the league seems to be trying to take a harder stance at the violence but violence is so entrenched in the game that it seems rather pointless. I look down on hockey for being one of the few sports that takes violence to such an extreme that people have been seriously injured from that violence as opposed to sports like basketball where the violence exists but rarely results in something that disables a player physically. Even the biggest NBA “brawls” have not resulted in much personal injury.
