Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s

All-Hit Hockey, all the time.  Give the people what they want.

Almost to a person, any hockey fan I’ve spoken with loves the rough stuff.  No, not the silly staged stuff…fighting…but the rough stuff.

The big hits, the little hits, the scrum in front of the net, digging for the puck in the corners, the constant down-low battles for position;  remove these elements from the game, and you’ll severely cripple hockey.  Even if you’re a fan who watches the game for breathtakking exhibits of skills such as tape-to-tape passes, any radical dialing down of hitting in hockey serves to curtail the beauty of other aspects of the game.

In what manner, you ask?  If by only cheapening them, for a large part of what makes a beautiful goal such a beautiful work-of-art is the stressful conditions under which it was scored.  The gifted player can somehow find room to negotiate out there, creating something out of nothing.  If every player could do that, would it be so special?

This argument in no way intends to suggest that we should have less goals scored; if anything, we need more skilled players and more scoring in the league. But don’t just hand it to them on a silver platter.  They have to earn it.  Hockey is still a combination of skill and size, brains and brawn, creation and intimidation.

Here are five hits, or examples of physical contact, in the past week that have come under the microscope:

- Willie Mitchell on Jonathan Toews

- Evgeni Artyukhin slew foot on Matt Niskenen

- Alexander Ovechkin slew foot on Rich Peverley

- Tuomo Ruutu hit on Darcy Tucker

- Mike Richards hit on David Booth

Each incident has to be viewed, and initially judged, separately.  Where the real fun begins is in the reality that no matter how clearly one spells out the definition of illegal hits in the National Hockey League, it is impossible to get everyone to agree on the legality and severity of most hits.

Take the case of Willie Mitchell of the Vancouver Canucks levelling Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks.

From my perspective, which translates to absolutely no rooting interest for either team or player, it was a clean hit.  Devastating, yes, but within the rules of the game of hockey.  Not within the rules as in one toe almost over the line, but comfortably within the rules.

From what I could see, Mitchell didn’t run at Toews, didn’t leave his feet, didn’t put his elbow or stick up, and Toews was in possession of the puck.  It was a clean open-ice hit.

It hurt Toews, to the point he had to sit out after that, but hockey is a rough, physical game.  Even Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville was quick to dismiss any talk of it being a dirty hit.

No suspension was warranted.

The hit by Mike Richards of the Philadelphia Flyers on David Booth of the Florida Panthers was also devastating, but to my eyes, it was a late hit.  Booth had dished off the puck, but even at the high speed that the game is played at, Richards had enough time to ease up on his contact.

He chose not to.

The key is to watch the replay in real-time, not slow motion.  The very act of you opening your own front door, when viewed in slow motion, would look like a criminal act.  Slow motion is good in helping determine factors involved in a questionable hit, such as leaving the feet, or position of an elbow, but since life doesn’t happen at that languid pace, to properly and fairly judge an act on-the-ice, it must be watched in real-time.

Even then, Richards still had time to ease off.  If anything, it appears, and I stress APPEARS, as if Richards elevated himself just enough to take a shot at Booth’s head.

Regardless of the validity of that last statement, Richards still delivered a late hit.  Sure, you can drag out the hoary reply that Booth should have been aware of everyone around him, but he can’t watch all five Flyer skaters.  Richards came out-of-nowhere and decked him, when he didn’t have the puck, which is against the rules.  This is not a repeat of the Mitchell hit on Toews.

A suspension is warranted.

The Tuomo Ruutu hit on Darcy Tucker of the Colorado Avalanche certainly appears to be a hit-from-behind to me, though not a seemingly devastating one.  Nonetheless, Tucker was hurt on the play.  Many are saying that there was no intention by Ruutu to injure Tucker, and from what the video replay reveals to me, I’d agree with that sentiment , but should that matter?

Someone is going to get seriously hurt in one of these scenarios in the future, and unless there is a zero tolerance to hits from behind of any magnitude, yes, even accidental ones, then prepare yourself for an onslaught of handwringing when they’re putting some stiff six feet under the day after such a hit.

Ruutu was suspended three games.

As it was a hit-from-behind, regardless of intention, the suspension was warranted.

The Evgeni Artyukhin slew foot on Matt Niskenen of the Dallas Stars is clearly that, an attempt to take the player’s feet out from under him.  Even if Artyukhin claims post-game, as he has, that that is not what he intended, the video evidence (thanks YouTube) shows otherwise.  The danger of the ages-old slew foot is having the duped player bounce his head off the ice.  In this instance, Niskenen fell onto his front, predominantly on his left arm.

The three-game suspension was warranted.

Maybe it helps being a superstar, because Alexander Ovechkin slew footed Rich Peverley of the Atlanta Thrashers, and was not suspended.

And you know what, he shouldn’t have been suspended.  The league got this one right.  Carefully watch the video, at real-time, and do you not see Peverley and Ovechkin battling for the puck, and the momentum of Ovechkin’s body carrying into Peverley, and upending him?

There was no slew foot delivered in the manner in which Artyukhin took out Niskanen.  From what I can recall, Ovechkin received a penalty, which was a good call; even an accidental trip is still a trip, but this incident was the direct result of a typical battle for the puck during a game.

Ovechkin is a supremely talented player, and he likes to engage in physical play, and every so often, the chippy side of him emerges.  One day, he’ll get under someone’s skin out there, and they will retaliate.  Fans of the Washington Capitals get all apoplectic when this is mentioned, but they are clearly thinking with their hearts, and not their heads.

Regardless…in this instance, no suspension was warranted.

The thing is, in all five instances, someone else could look at the very same video I just watched, and legitimately come up with five different conclusions.  That is what makes policing this game so difficult.

- Mick Kern

Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s