Hockey fans know there are only a few times when their sport infiltrates the mainstream American sports media.
A sick glove save might make it to SportsCenter's Top 10. A bouncing puck beating a goaltender from 197 feet (see: Toskala, Vesa) can count on a spot in the ""Not Top 10"" on Fridays. If Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin play each other, ESPN will trot out resident Hockey Analyst Actual Hockey Fans Hate Barry Melrose to help out on their highlights.
And there's one more time the major networks will cover hockey: When some goon does something to cast the NHL—and hockey as a whole—in a bad light. In the past couple of days hockey fans have seen that scenario play out once again, courtesy of the Vancouver Canucks' Rick Rypien.
For those not familiar with Rypien's story, the Canuck was sent to the locker room with a ten-minute major penalty late in the second period of a blowout loss after he sucker punched Minnesota Wild forward Brad Staubitz. On his way there, a Wild fan with seats right behind the Vancouver bench clapped and, we can only assume, voiced his opinions about Rypien as he left the ice. Rypien then lunged at the Wild fan, grabbing his jersey and shoving him before Rypien's teammates restrained him and got him to go to the dressing room.
The NHL has since suspended Rypien indefinitely, pending a hearing Friday.
Predictably, this episode landed on ESPN, and it seems like the entire blogosphere (the closest thing the sport has to a mainstream media in the U.S.) is weighing in on what punishments Rypien deserves. This has, of course, led to the obvious questions of where Rypien's idiotic move rates alongside the worst athlete-fan interactions and what punishment he deserves.
Rypien's incident is clearly nowhere near as bad as ones like the Pistons-Pacers Malice at the Palace in 2004, and he does not deserve anything close to the season-long ban Ron Artest got for going into the stands in that instance. At the same time, Rypien crossed one of the most important lines in sports by putting his hands on a fan and deserves a hefty suspension from the NHL.
Players can never go into the stands to attack a fan, no matter what the person said. It's that simple.
You will likely hear the argument that fans should watch themselves, and realize having a seat by the bench (or anywhere in the stadium) does not mean you get to say or do whatever you want. While that is true, and one would hope fans realize that before incidents like the Pacers-Pistons brawl re-occur, the fault here fundamentally lies with Rypien.
That Wild fan did nothing besides a little sarcastic clapping and jeering to provoke Rypien, and no matter what had just transpired on the ice or how frustrated he was with the game there is no excuse for lashing out at a fan who was giving him crap. Keep in mind, this was not a fan who hopped onto the Vancouver bench or dumped beer on a player, this was a fan who jeered Rypien and got a massive overreaction in return.
Fundamentally, Rypien lost his cool when he shouldn't have and in a way he shouldn't have. The League must—and likely will—make an example of him to show that kind of behavior is unacceptable. Rypien deserves a 10-game suspension from the NHL, which will cost him plenty in lost income and send a message to anyone who thinks attacking fans is OK.
There is no room for that kind of behavior in the NHL, but the league also has to avoid getting carried away. Yes, what Rypien did was wholly unacceptable, but we can't get carried away and give him a massive suspension for what was ultimately a shove.
Of course, the Rypien incident could also shed a light on one of the NHL's most maligned sources of controversy—its seemingly random discipline police. So far this season, we have seen Niklas Hjalmarsson's dirty hit that injured Jason Pominville receive the same two-game suspension James Wisniewski got for making a ""you should enjoy a delicious Popsicle"" gesture at Sean Avery. (Screw political correctness—Wisniewski told Avery to suck a dick. There it is.)
We'll see if the NHL gets this one right. If it can make an example of Rypien without going overboard it will be a matter of the league salvaging some dignity from would otherwise have been another black eye.
How should the NHL discipline Rick Rypien? E-mail Nico at savidgewilki@wisc.edu.
