AUSTIN, Texas – I want to say nice things about Alexandre Burrows, I really do. As a matter of fact one of the articles planned for the Pro Hockey News in between Stanley Cup finals games would have detailed his rise from being an undrafted junior player to playing for the Stanley Cup.
We are talking about a guy who used to play for the Baton Rouge Kingfish, the Greenville Grrrowl and the Columbia Inferno. We are not talking about a two-week conditioning period either. Burrows appeared in 134 ECHL games before moving on to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose for good and subsequently onto the Vancouver Canucks’ roster.
Through no fault of his own Burrows became the central figure in yet another NHL travesty. Did Burrows bite Boston’s Patrice Bergeron during a scrum after the first period of game one? Absolutely he did. The video says it all. After all, who am I supposed to believe the NHL office or my own lying eyes?
Let’s be fair to the NHL office. You know the one that had such an obvious conflict of interest heading into the Finals that they decided to allow Colin Campbell, their chief disciplinarian, leave his job heading into the league’s showcase event. Or did the league finally decide months later it was unwise to allow a man who called one player a “faker” and who tried to get an official fired after he called a penalty on Campbell’s son to continue on?
Yet after the Burrows incident it is clear the new boss is just like the old boss. The statement from Mike Murphy is farcical on its face and he probably should trademark the structure. I have a feeling it could rank with “if it doesn’t fit you must acquit” in the defense attorney hall of fame. Here it is in its glory;
“After reviewing the incident, including speaking with the on-ice officials, I can find no conclusive evidence that Alex Burrows intentionally bit the finger of Patrice Bergeron.”
Isn’t that great? Now you have to have intent? Good luck proving intent. Now I guess each and every player can get off by saying they did not have intent after they perform some heinous act of mayhem.
(“Mr. Murphy,” said player B, “I did not intend to elbow player A’s face into the boards.” “Thanks for clearing that up son,” said Murphy. “Guess I can’t prove you intended to do it. Go on your way now.”)
Before we go on about just the past week’s follies, let’s remind everyone this isn’t the first time the Bruins have been jobbed by the league. Marc Savard (Campbell’s “little faker”) suffered a serious concussion due to a blind-side check by Matt Cooke. That time Campbell could not find a way to suspend Cooke, then we find out later Campbell had called Savard a faker. Savard’s career hasn’t been the same and probably never will be.
Then there was the curious case of Scott Walker who sucker-punched Aaron Ward during the 2009 playoffs earning an automatic suspension for instigating a fight with less than five minutes to play. But wait, it turns out the suspension wasn’t served after all as the NHL got together with Walker and figured a way around it. The argument at the time was Walker thought he was involved in an altercation. Too bad that didn’t make the instigator part go away, but whatever.
Many times it seems the league has a policy of making things up as it goes along. That type of disciplinary system undermines the process. At least with the WWF you know the results are plotted out, but with the NHL you can never be too sure.
Now we turn to this year’s follies. This season the finals can’t even get underway before a city announces they are leaving a major US market for greener pastures in western Canada. This is followed by Campbell stepping down in favor of Murphy and then maybe Brendan Shanahan. There’s more certainty in the chain of succession in North Korea than there is in the NHL.
Of course Campbell would not have been handling supplemental discipline in this series anyway as his son now plays for the Bruins. And then, the icing on the cake, the Burrows affair comes along to reinforce why hockey ranks fifth of the four major sports here in the US. (That is not a mistype).
Everyone in Vancouver realizes they dodged a bullet and were able to dress a first line player due to the NHL’s decision. It’s a big joke in the Pacific Northwest. Burrows was introduced as a “vegetarian” on national television in the US before the game by his team captain. The sign shown on the Jumbotron (and national television) after the game was “Burrows has a hunger for the Cup”. During a scrum in game two the Canucks Maxim Lapierre put his hand near Bergeron’s face.
Meanwhile the joke is on the NHL where most of the media isn’t laughing with the NHL but at them. You can call the league a garage league and you will be surprised just how many people agree with you.
A garage league? You think? The league owns one team. Another team is run by a group of creditors and in Atlanta they couldn’t give a franchise away. Who hands out supplemental punishment against the Phoenix Coyotes to avoid a potential conflict of interest? The NBA office?
Of course, in true NHL fashion Burrows could not go out and play a pedestrian game and get lost in the flow. Just like in the Pink Panther serials the clueless inspector can’t bumble along in anonymous fashion—disaster has to strike in the most public of ways.
For Murphy, the NHL and commissioner Gary Bettman it was indeed a total disaster as Burrows wasn’t just a star in a game he should have been suspended for, he was THE first star.
The league needs to step back, draw clear guidelines for supplementary discipline and allow the fans and media to worry about intent. It is only then the league can begin to be taken seriously. Until then I’ll just watch in amusement and wonder if indeed the league does have an agenda.
Perhaps Forrest Gump summed it up best for the NHL when he said “stupid is as stupid does”.
Contact Tom.Schettino@prohockeynews.com
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