There’s nothing quite like it. The intensity and passion shown by 16 teams in the NHL playoffs fighting for sports’ most famous prize is unmatched in any other game.
Without the blemish of performance-enhancing drugs, a bounty scandal or a class of prima donnas, hockey has possibly become America’s purest sport.
And usually, the playoffs are the ultimate embodiment of that purity.
Sportsmanship had never been lost, even amid gritty playoff games. The way the two teams meet to shake hands at the end of every series is proof.
But that sportsmanship seems to have vanished this postseason.
Through 28 games, there have been more cheap shots than shots on goal and more cross-checks that are crossing the line from physical to dirty.
Fighting has always been part of the game, but the amount of fisticuffs and suspensions so far have been unprecedented.
Sunday’s game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins is a perfect example.
In what appeared to be a reincarnation of the infamous Broad Street Bullies Flyer teams of the seventies, three players were ejected in the first period alone. The teams combined for 158 penalty minutes by the end of the game.
Penguin forward Craig Adams was handed a one-game suspension by the league for his actions during an altercation. Adams repeatedly ignored officials’ attempts to break up a brawl and pulled on Scott Hartnell’s hair to start another scrap.
Pittsburgh forward Arron Asham is facing a four-game suspension for his actions in Sunday’s game. Asham was ejected from the game after he cross-checked Philadelphia’s Brayden Schenn in the throat area and then shoved Schenn’s face into the ice when he fell.
Fellow Penguin James Neal was given a one-game suspension after he left his feet on a hit to Flyers’ rookie Sean Couturier, sending Couturier to the locker room. He also delivered an elbow to the head of Philadelphia star Claude Giroux.
Following the game, Hartnell said the Penguins were not hitting to be effective, but hitting to injure.
The league’s injury sheriff, Brendan Shanahan, also slapped three-game suspensions on Chicago’s Andrew Shaw and New York’s Carl Hagelin.
Shaw injured Phoenix goaltender Mike Smith when he laid a hit to the goaltender’s defenseless head during game two of the series.
Hagelin concussed Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson when he followed up a check by shoving Alfredsson’s head into the glass during game two. The 39-year-old Alfredsson missed game three of the series and will likely sit out game four as well.
Ottawa’s Matt Carkner also received a single-game suspension, helping the league to already surpass the four suspensions served during the entire 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
But are players actually trying to be dirty? Washington coach Dale Hunter thinks so. Hunter claims the Bruins are deliberately going after the head of Capitals’ captain Nicklas Backstrom, who missed half of the regular season because of a concussion.
But Backstrom is not entirely innocent. He is likely facing a one-game suspension after receiving a game misconduct for a stick to the face of Boston’s Rich Peverley at the end of game three.
On Wednesday, Coyotes winger Raffi Torres was suspended indefinitely for jumping into a hit on Chicago’s Marian Hossa during game three of the series on Tuesday.
Still, some cheapies have gone without drawing a suspension. Nashville captain Shea Weber received only a $2,500 fine after deliberately shoving Henrik Zetterberg’s head into the glass during the end of Nashville’s game one win against Detroit.
As much as hockey purists hate to see the NHL playoffs turn into a UFC match, the networks are reaping the benefits.
Sunday’s game between the Flyers and Penguins received the best TV ratings of any NHL playoff game since 2002, and ratings from the weekend games on NBC are reportedly up 50 percent from similar games last season.
As both bodies on the ice and suspensions continue to pile up, one has to wonder whether the TV ratings are worth the carnage.
Rob Ogden is a senior studying journalism and the assistant sports editor at The Post. If you think hockey has turned into UFC on ice, let him know at ro137807@ohiou.edu.
