Follow Paul on Twitter: @PaulStewart22
Just when I thought the aftermath of Dennis Wideman's cowardly hit on unsuspecting NHL linesman Don Henderson -- which ended Don's career and left him in chronic pain from an unprovoked incident -- could not possibly get any sadder or more disgraceful, along comes district judge Alison Nathan to make an even bigger mockery of the entire situation.
This should have been solely an internal NHL matter. The NHLPA's case should have tossed out as the league's automatic suspension protocol for abuse of an official exists for good reason and violates no laws of the land.
We have moved further and further toward chaos; descended one step lower in the utter disregard not only for the authority of on-ice officials but concern for their safety and even respect for their humanity.
Judge Nathan, devoid of both common sense and even a rudimentary knowledge of hockey, he decided that to uphold the reduction Wideman's suspension -- which was rendered under a specific set of league rules pertaining to abuse of officials, based on the severity. She ruled that Wideman's deliberate and reckless actions did not merit the same punishment as "intent to injure."
Are you serious? Well, Ms. Nathan, if a defendant in your court room, concussed and disoriented, suddenly shoved you with your back turned and caused you permanent injury, I am sure you would be so lenient and understanding. He didn't hurt you deliberately, your honor. He was just disoriented, after all.
As a former member of both the NHLPA and NHLOA, I need to speak my piece here about my disappointment with both unions.
I am disappointed that the NHLPA overstepped its boundaries here in defense of someone who brought disgrace unto players everywhere. Am I surprised? No. Disappointed? Yes.
As for the NHLOA, I am dismayed at its lack of backbone and the way it kowtows to just about everything. Where is the support not just for the plight of a brother official but for what is right and just? It doesn't exist.
Officials need to have each others' backs since no one else has ours. There should be an absolutely zero tolerance policy -- no warnings, no turning the other cheek -- and anything abusive that goes on toward the on-ice officials. If that means Gary Bettman gets inundated with abuse-of-official suspensions for things that used to get let go, well, so be it.
I'm sick and tired of bending over backwards to appease GMs and the players union every time matters of disciplinary actions arise. Since abuse-of-the-official falls outside of the jurisdiction of the "Department of Player Safety" lackeys... sorry, I mean, appointees... someone needs to take a stand here. We need to start issuing more bench minors, tossing coaches, taking zero crap from players, too.
If the powers-that-be don't like it, well, too bad. Try playing hockey without officials, without rules. Do we really wonder why it has become harder and harder to recruit and develop officials?
Go to a random Canadian minor hockey or U.S. junior high game. Listen to the out-of-control hockey parents heap invective on the officials, and some so-called adult coach spewing f-bombs at teenage officials.
Look up at the top level, too, where Dennis Wideman and the Players Association treat Wideman himself like the victim. Look at Brian Burke, who really ought to know better both as a lawyer and former NHL disciplinary head, undermining the process in the name of sticking up for his Calgary player.
Look at Wideman's agent gloating. This guy is a virtual poster child for what his wrong with his profession. This is the same guy who, for self-aggrandizement and profit, starts early in filling kids' heads with notions that are above the game, above coaching, above the rules and most certainly underappreciated and underpaid.
"How dare that mean coach insist my client, gasp, back check and earn his ice time. Don't you know where he was drafted?! We demand a trade!"
"How dare the NHL issue a maximum suspension to my other client who recklessly ended an official's career. We're going to sue, and I will gladly air all dirty laundry right here on my Twitter page!"
The real victim in this whole sordid tale, Don Henderson, is home in Calgary unable to ever work in hockey again. The perpetrator is long since back on the ice and was just vindicated by a bozo with a gavel. All the while, some future Wideman is being cultivated and emboldened to think he's justified in damn near anything he does to an official.
It stinks.
*********
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 serves as director of hockey officiating for the ECAC.