I spent part of a rainy Saturday in Happy Valley mulling over whether or not I should post this blog entry.
I have decided to write this not as the play-by-play announcer for the Icers, but as a fan of the game that I have loved and played for more than fifty years.
By now, you may have heard about the incident in Friday night's NHL pre-season game between the Edmonton Oilers and Minnesota Wild involving Oilers rookie Taylor Fedun and the Wild's Eric Nystrom.
The pair were racing for the puck on a potential icing call. The video shows Nystrom trying to reach for the puck to negate the icing and his stick appears to get tangled in Fedun's skate.
As a result, Fedun crashed into the end boards, shattering the femur in his right leg.
The sickening incident involves two former NCAA players.
The Edmonton-born Fedun played four outstanding seasons under Guy Gadowsky's tutelage at Princeton, and appeared to have a good chance of sticking with the Oilers.
More importantly perhaps, Taylor was an 'A' student studying mechanical and aerospace engineering.
Nystrom was captain of the Michigan Wolverines in his senior season in 2004-05. Drafted 10th overall by Calgary in the 2002 NHL Draft,
he plays a gritty, hard-nosed style of hockey just like his dad Bob did during his career with the New York Islanders.
Today, Fedun's NHL dreams and his leg are shattered, while Nystrom is sick about the injury. He told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune's Michaeal Russo after visiting Fedun in his hospital room on Saturday:
The social media world erupted - especially Twitter - forcing Nystrom to defend himself against those trying to crucify him in the online world.
By most reports Nystrom will not be suspended by the NHL, which would be the right decision. However, the bottom line is that this entire incident could possibly have never happened if the NHL had previously instituted a no-touch icing rule.
I will admit right now that when the NCAA and ACHA adopted the hybrid icing rule I was not convinced that it was the right thing to do. I've seen the error of my thinking and now wholly support the rule. Why those in charge of the NHL don't see it that way is beyond me.
Fedun's career-threatening injury has reignited the debate. One of the most vocal proponents of the no-touch icing rule has been Don Cherry. "Grapes" has been railing against the current rule for years on his "Coach's Corner" segment on Hockey Night in Canada.
Ironically, this segment from March, 2008 has Cherry upset about a similar injury suffered by then-Wild defenseman Kurtis Foster.
In March, 2010, while commenting on a one-game suspension issued to Colorado forward Darcy Tucker when he tripped LA's Matt Greene, Grapes was at his blunt best:
God forbid that it ever comes to that.
I have decided to write this not as the play-by-play announcer for the Icers, but as a fan of the game that I have loved and played for more than fifty years.
By now, you may have heard about the incident in Friday night's NHL pre-season game between the Edmonton Oilers and Minnesota Wild involving Oilers rookie Taylor Fedun and the Wild's Eric Nystrom.
The pair were racing for the puck on a potential icing call. The video shows Nystrom trying to reach for the puck to negate the icing and his stick appears to get tangled in Fedun's skate.
As a result, Fedun crashed into the end boards, shattering the femur in his right leg.
The sickening incident involves two former NCAA players.
The Edmonton-born Fedun played four outstanding seasons under Guy Gadowsky's tutelage at Princeton, and appeared to have a good chance of sticking with the Oilers. More importantly perhaps, Taylor was an 'A' student studying mechanical and aerospace engineering.
Nystrom was captain of the Michigan Wolverines in his senior season in 2004-05. Drafted 10th overall by Calgary in the 2002 NHL Draft,
he plays a gritty, hard-nosed style of hockey just like his dad Bob did during his career with the New York Islanders.Today, Fedun's NHL dreams and his leg are shattered, while Nystrom is sick about the injury. He told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune's Michaeal Russo after visiting Fedun in his hospital room on Saturday:
..no matter how many times I say sorry, he'll still be in the spot that he is. It doesn't feel good to know that you're involved in something that hurt someone so seriously. But he really appreciated me stopping by, and I really appreciated him being so understanding.
The social media world erupted - especially Twitter - forcing Nystrom to defend himself against those trying to crucify him in the online world.
By most reports Nystrom will not be suspended by the NHL, which would be the right decision. However, the bottom line is that this entire incident could possibly have never happened if the NHL had previously instituted a no-touch icing rule.
I will admit right now that when the NCAA and ACHA adopted the hybrid icing rule I was not convinced that it was the right thing to do. I've seen the error of my thinking and now wholly support the rule. Why those in charge of the NHL don't see it that way is beyond me.
Fedun's career-threatening injury has reignited the debate. One of the most vocal proponents of the no-touch icing rule has been Don Cherry. "Grapes" has been railing against the current rule for years on his "Coach's Corner" segment on Hockey Night in Canada.
Ironically, this segment from March, 2008 has Cherry upset about a similar injury suffered by then-Wild defenseman Kurtis Foster.
In March, 2010, while commenting on a one-game suspension issued to Colorado forward Darcy Tucker when he tripped LA's Matt Greene, Grapes was at his blunt best:
That's sad when the [NHL] won't do anything about it. When somebody gets killed, they'll do something about it.
God forbid that it ever comes to that.
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