Ottawa v Buffalo: Don’t Those City Names Sound Similar?

(Editor’s Note: Before this article commences, we want to point out the alarming disparity between response to the Ottawa-Buffalo hockey battle and lesser brawls that have occurred in the NBA. While fans are aghast at the Detroit melee and Carmelo Anthony’s infamous hit-and-run, we generally accept that hockey players and baseball players fight all the time. We are not the first to point out the double-standard here, which can only be attributed to race, unless someone has a better answer.)

You want to know what can happen in 4:37?

Here’s the answer.

In order for you to understand the mayhem I need to explain to you the Code. I’m not talking about the Da Vinci code or the Codex. I’m talking about a deeply rooted set of unwritten rules that runs the National Hockey League.

Every hockey player knows about the Code. We grew up playing within it, saw the legends that graced the ice before us live and die by it, and we’d never dare be the absent minded soul that chooses to break it.

I don’t know if football has a code, because I never played. I do know that in hockey, if someone makes you mad you are not allowed to stomp on their face. I know that in basketball, it’s kosher to sucker-punch someone in the face and then run in the opposite direction. Even better still to rep your set while you do so. In Baseball, you can charge the mound, but there hasn’t been a good fighter in baseball since Nolan Ryan crap-kicked Robin Ventura and that guy in the minors drop-kicked the catcher.

Hockey is the only game where you carry a player on your roster specifically because he can beat your opponent to a pulp. A good fighter is hockey’s ultimate insurance policy. Simply having an enforcer’s presence on the bench can be enough to deter the other team from taking liberties with your star player.

And then sometimes someone takes liberties with your star player anyways. The clip you saw above was taken from an NHL game between the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres. Senators forward Chris Neil, a known enforcer took a run (a hockey term for taking a cheap-shot) at Sabres star Chris Drury. Drury was cut badly for stitches and suffered a concussion that may cost him the chance to win the Stanley Cup, as he’ll likely be sitting out as his first-place Sabres enter the playoffs.

The madness that ensued is all simply because of the code. When something like the Drury-Neil altercation happens, people take exception. People step up and take retribution, not necessarily because they want to, but because they know they have to. More likely still, they want to because they know they have to.

Here, in no particular order are some of the rules and sanctions that hockey players carry with them. Here, is THE CODE;

1. “You hit my star, I hit yours”- Basically, this comes down to the simple edict that you have to protect your star players. Even if your opponent executes a clean hit, if it’s hard enough, it warrants a response. What usually ensues is most commonly referred to as a ‘scrum’, in which players shove, punch or facewash (placing your glove on someones face and executing a wiping motion) each other to prove this point.

In the case of the clip above, Sabres forward Drew Stafford came and addressed Chris Neil based on this rule. Stafford is not known as a fighter (127 Penalty Minutes in his entire University career), but he knew his duty when he was on the ice during that incident. Sometimes the code extends to the next shift, as was the case in the Sabres-Senators game. Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff was more than a little upset about Neil’s hit, and decided that Stafford’s actions were not sufficient enough revenge. Ottawa coach Bryan Murray is apparently an ostrich, as the only explanation for putting Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza (5th and 26th in league scoring), his two best players, is because he’s had his head in the sand. Ruff saw Spezza and Heatley on the ice and sent out his three toughest players, as he was observing the rules of the Code. As soon as the puck was dropped, the Buffalo players showed zero concern for the play and jumped the Senators super-stars, prompting a full-scale 6-on-6 brawl that resulted in over 100 minutes in penalties being assessed during a 20-minute delay. And yes, that was a goalie fight you saw. Ottawa goalie Ray Emery even fought Andrew Peters, a legitimate NHL heavyweight who tips the scales at 6’4” and 247 lbs.

2. “Never touch a goalie”- Nothing gets hockey players ornery like some idiot taking liberties with the goalie. The number of things that fall into this category are vast. For instance, you could get beat up for ‘snow-jobbing’ the goalie. This means you stop directly in front of the goalie and the snow from your stop sprays all over him. Also, standing in the crease too long after a whistle can be detrimental to your health. Even if you were to harmlessly shoot the puck toward the goalie after a whistle, it could mean impending death. Goalies are a different breed. They’re almost always the weirdest guys on the team, but players will always defend them as though they were made of gold. Good goalies are rare and therefore more protected than Ft. Knox; and with twice the voracity.

This is what makes the fact that Ottawa goalie Ray Emery fought Andrew Peters such an anomaly. When goalies fight in hockey, they always pair up against each other. However in this case, you can see Emery tries to let Buffalo goalie Martin Biron get up after Emery dropped him, so they could go for round two. Before they could go at it again, Andrew Peters, Buffalo’s toughest player jumped in to fight the goalie. Normally, this would have resulted in as many Buffalo players jumping in on Peters as possible. But Emery gained a reputation in the minor leagues as one who takes a liking to fisticuffs, and so the Senators felt it was okay to let Emery go a few rounds with one of the NHL’s best fighters.

3. “Never be the third man in” and “Never be Unmerciful”- These rules apply specifically to fighting. If two players have decided to drop the gloves and go at it, it is dishonorable for any other player to jump in. There are a couple of instances that allow for this rule to be overlooked, the first being if someone is relentless in pummeling one of your teammates and the Linesmen are nowhere to be found. It’s okay to be the third man involved in this circumstance, because the person who pummels an opponent unmercifully is breaking the Code in the first place. While both players are healthy and on their feet, it’s okay to try to smash their face in. But if they are on the ice, in a helpless position, it’s not acceptable to finish him Mortal Kombat style. Also, if someone slips, you would be considered tough if you let him get up to continue fighting fairly. You would be a coward if you tried to punch him while he was on his knees in front of you.

4. “Intimidate at all times”- The more you can intimidate your opponent with psychological fear the better off you’ll be. This is at times difficult, as most hockey players are extremely tough, but if you possess some of the league’s most feared players, no teams want to play you. Hockey is a skill game, but it’s the team’s that combine skill with physical play and grit that succeed at the end of the season. Having players with reputations for being great fighters or big hitters is essential for intimidation. The Toronto Maple Leafs had a defenseman named Bryan Marchment a few years back who was labeled a “crippler” after some open ice hits caused numerous serious injuries around the league. Toronto television analyst Harry Neale said that players like Marchment “put the fear of God into you.”

The key to intimidation in hockey is making your opponent believe that you are crazy, and would do absolutely anything, no matter how atrocious. Having a resume of repeated ludicrous actions can only help a player’s reputation and certainly serves to make players around the league shake in their skates.

5. “Respect the Veterans”- Hockey is all about tradition, and young players are taught from birth that they are to respect the players that have been through the wars before them. These past heroes set the standard for the way the game should be played today. Every young Canadian knows about what Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier have done. The list of veterans is endless, but the lesson is simple; if a guy has been through the NHL’s battles you have to respect him.

6. “Play through the Pain”- It doesn’t matter the injury, in hockey the rule is you have to try to play through it. Especially in the post-season. If you have a broken leg, you’re expected to give it a go, and only when you collapse in the dressing room before hand can you be put on injured reserve. The toughest players never lay on the ice either. Current New York Ranger and former Red Wings legend Brendan Shanahan once had his ankle broken in front of opposing team’s net. He got up and skated to the bench with his pride being the only thing holding him up. Some might say he’s crazy; he’s honoring the Code. If you lay on the ice with an injury, you’re going to get labeled. Unless the injury is severe, or to your head, laying on the ice is out of the question.

In the playoffs teams won’t disclose injuries that players have sustained, choosing to say instead that the afflictions are ‘upper-body’ or ‘lower-body.’ These vague descriptions are used so that opposing teams won’t be sure of where to go to make the injury worse. After the Stanley Cup finals, teams release who was playing with what injuries and it is not uncommon to find that several players were playing games with severe injuries. Dan Boyle of the Stanley Cup winning Tampa Bay Lighting played with a broken bone in his wrist. Mats Sundin, Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs played a whole 7-game series against Philadelphia with his groin muscle torn off the bone and Steve Yzerman, long-time Captain of the Detroit Red Wings played the entire playoffs on one leg, as his knee was so badly injured he couldn’t walk in the dressing room. New York Rangers defenseman Brian Leetch was the Conne Smythe trophy (playoff MVP) winner in 1994 and did so with a shoulder so badly injured he could barely hoist the Stanley Cup. These are the stories all hockey players must live up to when faced with injury.

7. “Leave it on the Ice”- No matter what happens during the course of a game, you leave it on the ice. A few years ago in the playoffs, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Darcy Tucker hit New York Islanders Captain Michael Peca and tore his ACL and MCL ligaments, shredding Peca’s knee and putting him on the shelf for nearly a year. This past summer, the two became teammates, as Peca signed with the Leafs. When asked if the incident was cause a rift on the team, both simply smiled and said, “that’s hockey. It’s a part of the game.” Peca said he moved on a long time ago. The ultimate hockey answer from two players who treat the code in the highest respect.

And that’s what it boils down too for the Buffalo-Ottawa brawl. What happens on the ice stays on the ice. You don’t harbour grudges or wait for guys in the parking lot. If you want to extract your revenge, you wait for the next time you play that team. In Buffalo and Ottawa’s case, the next game was two-nights later in Ottawa. For the two days leading up to the re-match it was the only story in hockey. Ottawa coach Bryan Murray decided to dress Brian McGrattan, the NHL’s ultimate insurance policy, who was not in the line-up the night of the brawl. McGrattan fought Andrew Peters on Saturday night, and Buffalo’s Adam Mair fought Chris Neil, the man who started this entire incident with the hit on Drury.

Love it or hate it, this is what hockey boils down to. A set of rules that will never make their way to the NHL rule book but they hold more power and influence than anything Gary Bettman could ever produce.

There are more intricacies to the code, finer details that are built in to the major framework. But this list will help make sense of why hockey can be at times a beautiful game, and at times a violent free-for-all. My buddy Dave has family in Texas, and while visiting Dave in Toronto he took them to a Maple Leafs game. Toronto enforcer Wade Belak made what looked to be a routine body check on Colorado enforcer Peter Worrell, and both players seemed to simply skate up the ice as though everything was normal. Suddenly, they both dropped their gloves and started fighting. Afterwards, Dave’s cousin asked, “so they just start fighting out of nowhere, just like that?” When Dave confirmed this to be true, his cousin asked, “why?” “Because they knew they had to. That’s why they’re in the NHL.”

A beautiful game indeed.