It is ironic that the NFL is the talk of the day for concussions and violent hits, while in hockey, fights are still legal.
I have thought for many years that Hockey would be a better sport if fights were totally eliminated. I like hockey a lot and I know our society is blood thirsty, but if I want to see blood I will watch boxing or MMA—hockey is a skilled sport and I would like to concentrate on that.
Even worse than that, we have Rick Rypien pushing fans because he is salty. Wasn’t like the fan was doing anything crazy besides clapping, but that didn’t stop him from giving him a shove. Here are the details:
Down 5-1 to the Minnesota Wild, Canucks enforcer Rick Rypien, in a vain attempt to fire up his teammates, tried to goad Minnesota’s Brad Staubitz into yet another fight. Only this time, the officials intervened immediately and before the scrap could get going, separated the pair.
Rypien was assessed a double minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct before being sent off. It was right about then that Rypien thought it would be a good idea to give the official a shove, which, as you probably know, is never a good idea.
What happened next though is much, much worse.
A youngish looking Wild fan gave Rypien a sarcastic clap as he headed down the hallway towards the dressing room, a gesture Rypien didn’t take too kindly. So he did what any normal, rational person would do—he went after the fan, grabbing him by the shirt, before teammate Manny Malhotra pulled him away.
Just imagine if this happened in the NFL, NBA or MLB— it would be front page news! But because it is hockey, it has just been brushed aside in the mainstream media, and it shouldn’t be.
You can’t be pushing fans in any sport, so I hope Rypien is punished accordingly, but knowing hockey’s powers that be, he probably just get a slap on the wrist.