Posted: Monday, April 20, 2009, 11:29 PM | 28 comments |
 

Penguins' Kunitz going unpunished; NHL rulings a joke
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    No matter how I say it, it's going to sound like I'm being a homer.

    Trust me, I'm not.

    I'm for fairness. And Colin Campbell, the NHL's discipline czar, is not being fair with the way he is handing out suspsensions.

    Or, more to the point, NOT handing out suspensions.

    Campbell should have suspended Pittsburgh's Chris Kunitz for his violent hit to the head of the Flyers' Kimmo Timonen in Sunday's playoff game.

    Not only wasn't Kunitz suspended, but as of Monday night, there was never even a hearing scheduled on the matter.

    In another playoff incident, Calgary's Mike Cammalieri also should have been suspended for hitting an unsuspecting Martin Havlat of Chicago across the jaw and sending him down on a faceoff.

     The Flyers' Dan Carcillo was suspended, rightfully so, for hitting Pittsburgh's Max Talbot acorss the head in Game 1 of their current playoff series.

     I tried to talk to Campbell Monday and discuss the incidents. An NHL PR guy just laughed. Apparently, I'd have better luck getting Barack Obama. Colie won't talk about it, I was told.

    Campbell did a CBC interview the other day and looked foolish as he tried to explain why some players are suspended and others aren't. For proof, check out this link. Flyers coach John Stevens is one of the subjects in the interview.

    Campbell said Cammalieri was not suspended becaue he was not a repeat offender. By that twisted logic, he will NEVER be suspended because he will never be a repeat offender.

    Campbell also said Carcillo "has a history" and that's part of the reason he was disciplined.

    In other words, only the players with bad-boy reputations will be punished.

    As I said, Carcillo deserved his punishment _ especially when you consdier the referee had just warned him not to do anything stupid. 

    But Kunitz and Cammalieri deserved punishments, too. There's no consistency in Campbell's decisions. And, because of that, he is leaving the impression that the NHL is trying to control which teams advance in the playoffs.

   
Posted by Sam Carchidi @ 11:29 PM  Permalink | 28 comments
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  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:57 AM, 04/21/2009
    thanks for exposing the injustice Sam. Everyone should know what a joke Colin Campbell and the league office is.
    — potus
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:25 AM, 04/21/2009
    Boooo hooo. It's called hockey. You would think fans of a team monikered the Broad Street Bullies wouldn't be so sensitive.
    — R3
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:46 AM, 04/21/2009
    R3 is a dope. We are ticked because of the pitifully uneven calls. Not the violence! Consider this- if you put together a you tube poll showing Carcillo's hit in the face off circle and then Kunitz' charge/interference/elbow to Timonen's head and had 100,000 people who don't watch hockey vote- knowing simply that the league is trying to cut down hits to the head- you wouldn't find 5 votes saying the Carcillo hit was worse. Heck- you probably wouldn't find ONE. If your immediate response to me involves saying something about people who don't watch hockey don't know the Flyers- then you make my point for me. If you are deluded enough to think I'm wrong then you should not be allowed to procreate for the good of the global gene pool.
    — GNIKGNARLY
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:17 AM, 04/21/2009
    Are you kidding? You sir are the biggest hypocrite in a city full of them. The Kunitz hit on Timonen was unreal, brutal, and nasty - but it was 100% legal. Of course no mention of Harnell's knee on knee hit on Letang was ever mentioned in your "article". If Kunitz deserved to be suspended, what do you think should happen to Hartnell? Let me guess - you thought there was nothing wrong with that hit...? Do you want to know why the league seems to be a little harder on the Flyers? Here you go..... The Flyers are a product of their own self made environment - they want to be the roughest team in the league. Management (always former players) thinks the game is still played like it was in the 70's - but generally they employee players that don't know the difference between hard play and intent to injure. Then they think the league is always against them. This ignorance by the management is "bought into" by the players (it has to, if they want to play there) and it trickles down to their fans, who are realistically probably the worst in professional sports, because they just don't get it. Because they are easily confused, they turn to conspiracy theories to help them sleep at night. Carcillo was suspended - because he's a goon, and was taking a faceoff (which he very rarely does) with a few seconds left in the game. He was put out there to start stuff, which he did. Thats also why Stevens was fined - makes sense to everyone outside Philly, i guess. Cammalieri didn't get suspended for the same action because he regularly takes face offs, and isn't a goon with a history of being a goon - big mystery solved. So the "injustice" is your own fault people....sheesh
    — not_a _hypocrite
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:36 AM, 04/21/2009
    not a hypocrite believes Jeff Carter has earned the right to stab Sidney Crosby. By his logic, a player's past reputation is the defining factor in interpeting his action. (By the way, with replay readily available, why does the NHL deny actions which fans can see with their own eyes) I have seen Carter's play from day one and while he takes a minor penalty from time to time, he mostly plays a gentlemanly game and rarely takes major penalties. In not a hypocrites world, then, he has built up enough good will "juice" to be able to commit felonious assault on another player. This isn't about hockey, it's about stupidity and after-the-fact denials.
    — waynoNE
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:42 AM, 04/21/2009
    Not_a_Hypocrite.... It would seem you are right about how easily I get confused. Forgetting for the moment that the hit on Timonen was not legal (more than 2 strides with direct intent to hit a player is charging, elbow to the face is elbowing, directly hitting any player who does not possess the puck is interference)- your point is that Carcillo should be suspended, not necessarily for the hit but for his or the Flyers' history, while Cammalieri should not even though the hits were identical because he does not have a history? OK- please educate me then. Is your point that if I steal your car I should be allowed to keep it because I've never stolen a car before? Or is it that I should be arrested because I'm a goon who has a history of DRIVING cars?
    — GNIKGNARLY
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:59 AM, 04/21/2009
    Once again, Pens fans make themselves look foolish
    — duffers
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:19 PM, 04/21/2009
    It's mind-boggling that people still hold the Bullies era against the Flyers. I guess maybe they'll let it go when all those guys are dead and gone... Yet nobody made a peep when Anaheim employed the modern day equivalent strategy to win the Cup a few years ago. Pittsburgh has been a dirty team for a while now, basically since the advent of Crosby. But everyone knows that Crosby is the face of the NHL, and that can't help but factor in to how Pens games are called, even without any direct instructions to the refs from the League. Naturally Crosby feels entitled, with all the fawning by the League, and the whole organisation follows along. Getting away with hooking/holding/interference is one thing; getting away with a dangerous, dirty hit that could have put one of the NHL's classiest players in the hospital, or ended his career, is another matter.
    — element_104
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:41 PM, 04/21/2009
    Just curious, anyone remember the last game the Flyers had more power plays than the other team? I sure can't.
    — kevin.carroll
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:25 PM, 04/21/2009
    Watching the tape of Campbell only convinces me that several changes need to made in the NHL. The administration of Bettman and Campbell need to end...Someone with more intelligence and hockey sense needs to reestablish sanity in the league. The 2 referee system needs to end...neither official knows who is charge, each calls his own game and they all look like inconsistent idiots. The shoot-out needs to go the way of many of those in Congress--retire!!! This is a team sport and shoot-outs have no place in a team sport. This has adversely affected playoff positioning and possibly the way teams approach a game. The hit on Timonen was deliberate, stupid and should have been a 5 minute major for intent to injure, particularly if one takes into account the major give Coburn several weeks ago in NY for much less. Colin, I would be embarassed by this interview and would work on your speaking skills and know your facts.
    — sugardoc54
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:27 PM, 04/21/2009
    I've always said the 74-75 Flyers must have been fierce. 30 years later and still drawing penalties.
    — flyler


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About Sam Carchidi
Sam Carchidi is in his fourth year as the Flyers' beat reporter. He became an Inquirer staff writer in 1984 and covered mostly South Jersey high school sports and the Phillies before taking the Flyers beat.

Carchidi has written three books _ the nationally acclaimed Miracle in the Making: The Adam Taliaferro Story, which he co-authored with Scott Brown; Bill Campbell: The Voice of Philadelphia Sports; and Standing Tall: The Kevin Everett Story, which was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show. He also contributed to a 1993 Inquirer book on the Phillies.

A lifelong South Jersey resident, Carchidi lives in Wenonah with his wife, JoAnn, and their two children, Sara and Sammy.

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