“First of all, all you have to do is look at the way Downie's neck snapped upon impact to know he wasn't in control of his body as he went into the boards -- unless you think Downie is crazy enough to nearly break his own neck looking for a penalty.”
Those are the words of our very own Bill Meltzer in his blog posted yesterday (whom I respect a great deal and who has helped me with personal advice as I started my journey into this blogoshere).
Well, colour me crazy then Bill, because I do feel that Steve Downie deliberately dove head first into the boards when pushed from behind by Georges Laraque. That was my very first thought when I saw the replay of the incident and after viewing it over a few times, I have seen nothing to dissuade me from that viewpoint.
At the risk of over-stepping by bounds and potentially alienating myself within the heavily populated Philadelphia based HockeyBuzz community, I think there is something severely wrong with Downie.
Downie’s past is well documented and everyone reading this knows that he is a player who constantly feels the need to play “on the edge” to get himself noticed. It’s not so much his acts on the ice, as gruesome as many may view them, but the way he seems to respond after them that leads me to believe he has a few screws loose.
After the McAmmond incident he showed no remorse and simply stated he was finishing his check, with little or no emotion and understanding of what his actions may result in. Skating to the penalty box after sucker-punching Jason Blake, who had his gloves on and was being held by a linesman, he was smiling to the crowd and cameras enjoying the limelight.
He clearly does not understand the gravity of his actions and I believe if some physiological help is not afforded this NHL rookie he may one day be involved in an incident that the entire hockey world will deeply regret.
That’s a pretty bold statement on my part and one I don’t make lightly. I am scared about what could potentially happen with this kid in the future and how it will affect the sport I love.
Hitting from behind, head shots, and the concussions that result from such incidents are a primary focus of the game today. Everyone knows that they must somehow be eliminated before someone is permanently paralyzed or worse. The discipline handed out for such incidents needs to be swift and stern, and most importantly consistent.
Ilya Kovalchuk’s hit the other night, and subsequent one game suspension, was nothing short of a joke. It is so obvious that he was given the “star treatment” by the NHL, especially with this weekend’s All-Star game being held in Atlanta. The name on the back of the sweater, whether it is the initiators or the recipient’s, should be 100% irrelevant, as should the injury sustained. It is the action and intent that needs to be looked at, not the result.
The on-ice officials are the first responders and the NHL Office makes the final decisions on all incidents. Both are very difficult jobs to be sure as much human judgment is required. There is no black and white when trying to determine the intent of an individual player and opinions will always be varied.
The league has been trying to crack down on players who dive for a few years now. Players are fined and their names are posted in dressing rooms around the league for all to see with the hope that embarrassment will help eliminate the acts and prevent hockey from becoming soccer on ice.
Athletes are notorious for doing anything to win and faking infractions or injury is nothing new. It’s one thing to pretend to be tripped or hauled down and it is something that we all hate, but it’s a whole different story when someone deliberately portrays an incident such as hutting from behind near the boards, that some day may result in an individual being paralyzed, or heaven forbid, even dying on the ice.
Steve Downie is by no means the only culprit in this as many players have taken to turning their backs to an oncoming hit near the boards in the hopes of drawing a penalty. The players know it is a focus of the league and that they are specifically looking for such infractions, thus the chance of giving your team a man advantage situation is great if you can make a hit look worse than it is.
This has to stop!
Again, we’re not talking about someone pretending to fall down. This is about potentially a human life at stake. If officials have to deal with players crying wolf in this very serious part of the game it will make an extremely difficult job that much harder to enforce if they have to determine one’s acting abilities.
What Downie did the other night was taking it to a whole new level. He knew Laraque was behind him and, I believe, set himself up in a specific position with his back to the oncoming Penguin waiting for what he knew was coming. He then leapt into the boards, springing forward on contact and making it look like he was slammed head-first into the boards. He then lay on the ice capping off his performance with mini convulsion-like tics … almost as if he knew that he wouldn’t be able to play the rest of the game if he took it too far and gave us a more dramatic version.
The fact that he not only returned to the game, but proceeded to get involved in a fight only proves the point in my opinion. If he had been slammed head-first into the boards involuntarily then surely the Flyer medical staff would have prevented him from returning simply on the fear of him suffering a concussion if no other injury had been sustained. Add in the fact of the Flyer’s history with supposed misdiagnosis of injuries, including concussions to Eric Lindros, and it’s a no-brainer that Downie would have been held back from any further action in that game.
Instantly upon seeing the play for the first time, and with no knowledge that he later got into a fight, I felt he deliberately dove into the boards trying to draw a penalty and suspension. I am no expert by any means, but I have witnessed thousands of games in the last 38 years and I have confidence in my abilities to determine what is what in this game. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I know I’m definitely in the minority with this one, but I believe in it strongly enough to post it here, for all to judge.
I titled this Downie Needs Help and it wasn’t just to grab attention to the blog … I firmly believe he does need help and that his history of antics and actions are screaming out to everyone and anyone that he is heading down a path that may take us to a place that none of us want to see.
This, however, is not just about Steve Downie. He may be, along with Chris Simon, the most notorious offenders in today’s game, but the NHLPA and the League need to ensure that everyone understands the gravity of the situation and that such acts will not be tolerated before it is too late.
Steve Downie needs help, but so does the National Hockey League … he is just a symptom of the problem.
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