The Warpfish Chronicles

"27 years on the planet, and I still haven't figured out what's going on."

Tie Domi's Cheap Shot -- May 4th, 2001

But, before we condemn Domi for his cheap shot (and he should be condemned), we should remember the names Shane Willis and Ron Francis. Remember them? Scott Stevens hammered both of them, sending one of them to the hospital, knocking them both out of the series. But he got away with it, because the hits were 'clean.'

If we condemn Domi, and Scott Niedermeyer returns the next game, and honour Scott Stevens, even though both Francais and Willis never returned, what does that say about the way the game of hockey is played?

There's no room in hockey for cheap shots. But there should be no room for any sort of action that hurts players -- and open-ice hits that send people to the hospital should be a part of that. If we condemn Tie Domi, we should condemn Scott Stevens, and everybody else who takes that extra step when throwing a check.

Don't get me wrong -- I think clean body checking is an essential part of hockey. But sending people into next week, clean or dirty, is unacceptable. I think that we should recognize that, before somebody on a 'clean' hit gets killed.

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