Don Cherry will be thrilled
First, dandy Don’s comments:
Let’s see if I have this right: Mike Ribeiro takes a two-handed swing at Chris Osgood’s upper-body after the game is over and the Wings are supposed to respond by playing “rock ‘em sock ‘em”? Here is the footage:
Let’s take a look at the rulebook. Mike Ribeiro was charged with attempt to injure which is a match penalty. Here is the NHL rule on committing an intent to injure penalty.
In addition to the match penalty, the player shall be automatically suspended from further competition until the Commissioner has ruled on the issue.
So the Wings leave well enough alone and Ribeiro is suspended until the league says otherwise. I would guess there’s a 50/50 chance they say “hey, what’s the big deal? He didn’t whack him in the head like Chris Simon or Marty McSorely so we’re all good.” Now I’m sure Grapes would have liked to see the Wings take the matter into their own hands and have someone fight Ribeiro. Let’s put aside the question of whether Ribeiro would have actually fought anyone. If that would have happened there is a chance that Detroit player would receive an automatic suspension. Here is the link to the pertinent rule.
(NEW for 2005-06) A player who is deemed to be the instigator of an altercation in the final five (5) minutes of regulation time or at any time in overtime, shall be assessed an instigator minor penalty, a major for fighting, a ten minute misconduct and an automatic one-game suspension. The length of suspension will double for each subsequent offense. In addition, the player’s coach shall be fined $10,000 — a fine that will double for each subsequent incident.
Ribeiro’s actions might have resulted in the Red Wings player not being deemed an instigator, but who really knows how the NHL would handle that situation? Guess wrong and one of your guys is definitely out of Game 3. The other problem is Aaron Downey wasn’t dressed and Darren McCarty was on the bench. The two-handed chop took place right after the game ended, so I’m sure no one expected Ribeiro to pull a stunt like that. St. Louis, yes; the Stars, not so much.
Given how dangerous this type of behavior is the league should have a zero-tolerance policy. We’ll see how they handle the situation.
With that being said, I agree with Cherry that fans love fights. The one thing worth pointing out is that they mostly take place during the regular season. The Wings had Aaron Downey in the lineup for much of the regular season and he was able deliver some frontier justice when called upon to do so. Darren McCarty is the type of fighter Detroit would prefer to have play as he has some solid hockey sense/talent and is a solid addition to the fourth line. Those are the kind of guys Detroit wants to put on the ice.
Christy over at Behind the Jersey works for the Red Wings and has mentioned that the team sold out many of their games towards the end of the season. What’s the big difference between then and now? Well, besides the fact Detroit is one of only four teams left competing to win the Stanley Cup, ticket prices are much more expensive right now.
It’s also interesting that Don Cherry called Detroit a “redneck” city but in the same segment said that ticket prices aren’t the reason for the empty seats. Again, I agree with Cherry on the larger issue that a large segment of the Red Wings fanbase are blue-collar workers, but the manufacturing industry in Michigan has just been completely gutted. The only explanation for why the Red Wings could sell out late season games but cannot sell out playoff games is due to the difference in ticket prices.
Oh, and Don: Joey Kocur hasn’t played in Detroit in nine seasons and Probie hasn’t played for the Wings for 14 years. The inability to sell out games became an issue last season. I’ll let you work on the logical gymnastics there to see how your conclusion is just a bit off.
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