Mark Thursday, March 18, as the date hockey, at least in Boston, turned into an entertainment more along the lines of professional wrestling than a true sport.
Just minutes into the game between the Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins, in a set piece that could have been scripted by Vince McMahon, the gloves were thrown down and Boston "enforcer" Shawn Thornton went at it for a few seconds with designated villain Matt Cooke of the Penguins before both were sent off for fighting. Cooke's cheap hit on Bruins star Marc Savard 12 days earlier demanded retribution, and to Thornton's credit he got more punches in than his teammates got goals that night.
For the Bruins' play in that and the subsequent two periods was as lackluster as the fight, and the boos for the home team that followed the 3-0 loss didn't sound much different than those that greeted Cooke's appearance on the ice. This was hardly the U.S. vs. Canada. Furthermore, it put the Bruins closer to missing the playoffs than they were when the game started.
The audience for any National Hockey League game this season, including the playoffs, will not likely come close to matching that of the two games played between the U.S. and Canadian national teams in Vancouver last month. There's a message in that which the NHL stubbornly refuses to acknowledge.
The college and international games, which sanction only clean hits and emphasize skating and passing over goonish behavior, are much more entertaining to watch. Yet by refusing to punish players for hits like the one that knocked Savard out for the season, the NHL limits its appeal to those who watch hockey in the hope a fight breaks out or an opposing player is sent to the hospital.
Broadcaster Barry Melrose said on ESPN the other night that hockey is a violent game and he'd like it to stay that way. If that's the attitude of a majority of NHL players, coaches and owners, the league had best get used to being considered a second-tier sport with limited fan appeal.
