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Abuse of Officials: Carcillo Deserves No Sympathy

May 23, 2014, 5:43 AM ET [25 Comments]
Paul Stewart
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Hockey is an emotional game, especially in the playoffs. Nevertheless, there is a right way and a wrong way to handle the emotions. New York Rangers forward Daniel Carcillo has never learned that lesson.

The Rangers were angry about Brandon Prust's late and high hit on Derek Stepan in the first period of Game Four of the Eastern Conference Finals. I don't blame them. It was a bad hit -- similar in a few respects to a play that got Philadelphia's Zac Rinaldo suspended four games late in the regular season -- and merited a response by Stepan's teammates.

One thing a player can NEVER do, however, is use physical force against an official to try to get away from him during an altercation on the ice. Carcillo was being restrained by linesman Scott Driscoll during a fight between Prust and Derek Dorsett. The fight came on the heels of Carcillo getting a charging penalty for taking a run at Prust from behind near the end boards.

Driscoll was doing his job, trying to escort Carcillo away from the altercation and to the penalty box. Carcillo deliberately jostled Driscoll -- multiple times -- to try to get away and go at Prust again. This is physical abuse of an official, as laid out under Rule 40 of the NHL Rulebook.

There are different categories of this offense, all of which carry automatic suspensions of varying lengths. My gut instinct was that incident was a Category 3 (an automatic three-game suspension):

Any player who, by his actions, physically demeans an official or physically threatens an official by (but not limited to) throwing a stick or any other piece of equipment or object at or in the general direction of an official, shooting the puck at or in the general direction of an official, spitting at or in the general direction of an official, or who deliberately applies physical force to an official solely for the purpose of getting free of such an official during or immediately following an altercation shall be suspended for not less than three (3) games.


Some observers believe a Category 2 offense -- an automatic 10-game suspension -- was merited for deliberately applying physical force without intent to injure an official. The distinction between the two categories is the added Category 3 wordage about trying to get free during an on-ice altercation between the two teams.

Any time a Physical Abuse of an Official penalty is imposed, the officials must make both a verbal and written report to the League, including the category of the offense that they think is merited. The NHL then conducts a hearing with the player and makes a ruling. Only a Category 3 suspension can be reduced.

Carcillo, who is nicknamed "Carbomb" for being a serial hothead, has a previous Abuse of an Official related suspension on his NHL rap sheet of suspensions. In the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs, while still a member of the Philadelphia Flyers, Carcillo was given a crosschecking penalty at 11:31 of the first period. Boston, which won the game to sweep the series, scored on the power 31 seconds later.

Between periods, Carcillo charged at the Officials' dressing room, verbally abusing the crew and threatening to start a physical confrontation. Still not content to leave bad enough alone, Carcillo provoked a verbal confrontation with linesman Brian Murphy when the Flyers came out to the bench for the start of the second period.

The NHL ultimately suspended Carcillo two games. The suspension carried over to the start of the next season (by which time, the oft-traveled Carcillo was no longer a member of the Flyers and had moved on to sign with Chicago).

Carcillo, who was originally drafted by Pittsburgh, has bounced around to a half-dozen different NHL organizations in his career. He can play the game a little bit when he sets his mind to it. Nevertheless, Carcillo is one the game's ultimate diminishing returns player because, quite frankly, he's a cementhead.

Play Carcillo here and there and he may contribute a few positive things. He is an OK fighter, pound for pound, forechecks aggressively, skates decently and has been a double-digit scorer in the NHL. That is why he's still in the League.

Play him a little more and he inevitably hurts his team more than he helps. There is nothing going on upstairs with him, and his learning curve has been a flat line. Carcillo has precious little hockey sense, no sense of time, place and score to pick his spots, and not even an iota of emotional restraint. He's no savvier now at age 29 than he was as a rookie.

Earlier this season, I wrote a blog about abuse of officials from both an historical and personal standpoint. I also wrote a piece called Referees and Maitre D's in which I discussed, among other things, an incident in which Tampa Bay's Chris Gratton spit on me and got an automatic three-game suspension.

I will not repeat the stories from those two blogs here but I will add one from my own playing days. The other day, I talked about an incident during my Binghamton Dusters days when Rick Jodzio cross-checked me in the face and I suffered a broken jaw, eight lost teeth, a concussion and a 64-stitch gash. I stayed in the game, although I was in agony and in a mental state that could fairly be described as delirious.

Jodzio was not penalized on the play. After the period, my coach, Larry Kish, pulled me out of the trainer's room, where I was sitting in my long underwear still bleeding and very woozy. He took me by the wrist and led me to referee Al Goodman.

"Look at his face, Al!" Kish demanded, wanting to know how nothing was called on the play. Kish gave me a little shove in the back toward the official.

Goodman put his hands on my shoulders, glanced at my face, and then pushed me back at Kish. I lost my balance and swooned back into my coach. I don't know what happened next, because I was in such a daze. I was told after the fact that I instinctively lunged back at Goodman, throwing a single punch that broke his nose.

As soon as I found out what I had done, I called Goodman and apologized. But I knew there was still punishment coming from the league. I was suspended for eight games and fined $5,000 (in a season where my entire salary was $8,000). Dusters owner, Jim Matthews, gave me the money to pay the fine.

I ended up undergoing both facial plastic surgery and oral surgery in the hospital after the Jodzio incident. If I had my mental faculties about me, I never would physically attacked Goodman or any other official regardless of how angry I felt at a given moment.

Nevertheless, I was fortunate to only get eight games (there had initially been rumors of a lifetime ban from the league) and grateful that I could continue my career. It is never OK, under any circumstance, for a player to physically confront an official.

The Rangers' anger at Brandon Prust did not remotely justify what Carcillo did last night. He gets no sympathy from me. I just hope the League does the right thing, enforces the mandatory suspension and does not reduce it by even a game.

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Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.

Today, Stewart is an officiating and league discipline consultant for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).

The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials. Stewart also maintains a busy schedule as a public speaker, fund raiser and master-of-ceremonies for a host of private, corporate and public events. As a non-hockey venture, he is the owner of Lest We Forget.

In addition to his blogs for HockeyBuzz every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, Stewart writes a column every Wednesday for the Huffington Post.
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