Jason Miller runs a roller hockey league in St. Louis, Missouri that is a glorified pick-up league. He calls players every week to play, which goes in order of the amount of times played in past games. He even hires a referee every Sunday night to facilitate the two 44 minute games and also has a scorekeeper to keep track of goals, assists and penalty minutes. As if that wasn't enough, he even keeps track of everything on sundayrollerhockey.com, the league's website for everyone to view in the comfort of their own homes. But the most notable feature of Miller's league may be the way that he handles the discipline that needs to be handed out time to time.
Even though the league is played amongst friends, tempers do flare on the rink. Miller has set up a unique way to handle these situations. If he feels that it is necessary to pursue action off the rink (suspension or expulsion from the league), he takes the matter to his board of players that was voted in by everyone that participates in Sunday Roller Hockey.
“Its mostly made just to curtail violence and stupid behavior,” Miller said, “and its worked pretty well because its at least made people think twice about what they want to do before they actually do it.”
Is this something that could be adopted in the NHL? Vancouver Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell would vote in its favor.
Recently Mitchell spoke with the media and told his thoughts about current NHL vice president and league disciplinarian Colin Campbell. Lets just say it was not a heartwarming message.
“I am disappointed in the league, disappointed in Colin Campbell,” Mitchell said, who has not played a game since being sidelined with a concussion on January 16 after a hit from Pittsburgh Penguin Evgeni Malkin. “As we've seen (he's) been very inconsistent with how he's handled himself in those situations.”
Mitchell went on to say that he believes that Campbell has too close of a personal relationship with various NHL general managers and owners. He says that it is “tough to hand down decisions on matters like this when you are friends with people.” So how do we fix this problem that Mitchell has brought to the media's attention?
Mitchell suggested that an outside party handle disciplinary actions. It seems he may be up to something.
A NHL media member actually voiced his opinion on the matter. Doug Stolhand is the co-host of the Puck Podcast, a weekly hockey podcast that has become the number one ranked hockey podcast on iTunes.
“I think you got to get somebody that is removed personally from the process and does not have a financial interest,” Stolhand said on his May 15 show. “By that I mean he isn't working for the NHL.”
“I think it has to be a committee, and I think it has to be at least three people that can get together and decide on these things. One representing the players, one representing the league and one at large... that way everybody is represented.”
A committee of people may be exactly what the NHL needs to be taken seriously. If a team of informed decision-makers, voted on by his peers as Miller has done with his league, got together to discuss disciplinary action, there is not just one mind deciding what is legal and what is not. The formula the NHL is using is obviously not working. There are plenty of examples to prove this.
The best example came from last year's playoffs. Daniel Carcillo of Philadelphia was suspended for “sucker-punching” Pittsburgh Penguin Maxim Talbot at the end of their playoff game, yet Campbell did not suspend Mike Cammalleri of the Calgary Flames when he did the same act against Chicago's Martin Havlat. Here is his reasoning for the Carcillo suspension straight from NHL.com:
"With six seconds left, you have a player who never kills penalties, a player who never takes faceoffs, coming out on a five-on-three (manpower disadvantage) and doing what he did – a repeat offender. So there are a number of criteria there that satisfy doing what we had to do ... I don't want to filter everything out of the game. But we want to take the dumb stuff out of the game."
This is acceptable reasoning for a vicious act by the gritty forward. But he had to back up his decision just two days later when he decided not to suspend Cammalleri.
"When Cammalleri hit Havlat, there was a lot of risk to doing that. He took a two-minute penalty in a game where there could have been ramifications for doing that. But there are no ramifications when you're losing 4-1 with six seconds left."
He, along with the rest of the league, was pushing the fact that they did not want teams “sending a message” late in hockey games. Although it is true that Cammalleri did receive a penalty and it was impossible for Carcillo to because there was just a few ticks left in the game, it is ridiculous to say that because Cammalleri did his act earlier in the game, he does not deserve the same punishment as Carcillo.
The NHL needs to look at other options for their way of giving discipline to its players. Whether they go with Mitchell's brainstorm or another outside opinion, something has to be done about Campbell's inconsistency. The answer may be right under their noses though; if a men's pick-up league can figure out a formula that works, then the NHL just may not be trying hard enough. I am sure the NHL wants what Jason Miller wants; an exciting game that doesn't resolve in injuries.
“This [committee] was made to keep it clean and for everyone to enjoy themselves.”
Although the explanation seems simple, it may be the key to dirty play being limited in the NHL.
Keywords: colin campbell, daniel carcillo, doug stolhand, evgeni malkin, gary bettman, martin havlat, maxim talbot, mike cammalleri, nhl, puck podcast, sunday roller hockey, vancouver canucks, willie mitchell
