Media reaction to the Patrice Cormier incident
January 19, 2010 · 17 Comments
Patrice Cormier’s attack on Mikael Tam was described by Daren Millard of Rogers Sportsnet last night as a “punishing hit.” You can see the incident just below, if you haven’t already, and it isn’t pretty.
Punishing hit? That’s a little like saying Haiti suffered an infrastructure problem a few days ago.
It wasn’t a hit. It was assault. Cormier hopped off the bench, made a bee-line for Tam and leveled him with an elbow. Tam suffered brain trauma, went into convulsions and was taken to hospital.
On TSN’s SportsCentre last night, Rod Smith called it vicious. At Sportsnet, Nick Kypreos described it as “gutless” and “as dirty as I’ve seen.” Bill Watters believed it to be “blatantly pre-meditated.”
Before we go any further, thumbs up to Puck Daddy over at Yahoo! Canada for jumping on this story quickly and getting out a solid report yesterday morning.
As Puck Daddy noted, Cormier, who plays for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, is building a record. He downed a Finn and a Swede at the world junior hockey championship with his elbows. In other words, Canada’s junior captain is a thug in the making.
Generally, the media have condemned Cormier for his assault on Tam, who plays for Quebec Remparts, but there is always the exception. This time, it was Sean Gordon of The Globe and Mail, who decided to go sort of counterintuitive, and give the story a light touch.
He wrote, “It will doubtless shock no one to learn Quebec’s sporting demi-monde is atwitter today over the elbow heard round the Abitibi.
“You can check the incident out for yourself on Globesports.com’s main page, but suffice it to say that Patrice Cormier has been a very naughty young man.”
Oh, yes, very naughty indeed. Gordon chides Remparts coach Patrick Roy for reporting the incident to police and demanding a lifetime ban for Cormier. This was the same coach, after all, he seemed to condone the conduct of sons Frederick and Jonathan both of whom were suspended by the Quebec league for seperate incidents.
Gordon thought the reaction to Cormier’s attack “a bit over the top,” but acknowledged similarities between it and the hit by Mike Liambas on Ben Fanelli in the OHL, which resulted in a season long suspension to Liambas. But, he added somewhat enigmatically, “there are clear differences between the incidents.”
Oh, and what are the differences? Well, he doesn’t explain, but we’ll help: Cormier’s attack was worse. Liambas deserved his suspension — it was a vicious charge — but it was a body check. It wasn’t an elbow to the head.
Gordon ends his piece by advising us to “spare a thought about why it is that junior hockey can’t seem rid itself of these types of incidents.”
Part of the problem might be idiots in the media believing the condemnation of “naughty” players to be “a bit over the top.”
But the real reason the junior ranks can’t rid themselves of these incidents is the NHL, which influences all levels of hockey, but particularly major junior hockey. The NHL condones this stuff. In October, Mike Richards, the Philadelphia Flyer captain, delivered a head shot to David Booth of the Florida Panthers. It was as bad or worse than Cormier’s attack, because it was a blind-side. Booth was knocked out, carried off the ice and taken to hospital. He hasn’t recovered. He continues to suffer headaches and hasn’t played since.
Do you think Cormier saw the video of the Richards’ hit? Do you think he may have noticed that Richards went unpunished by the NHL? That he received nothing? And that, in fact, many in the media and, of course, Richards’ own club, praised him by describing his cheap-shot “a good hockey hit”?
That’s the example set the NHL and much of its media, and that’s why, despite Gordon’s ridicule, Roy is probably right. Maybe it is time for law enforcement to get involved. Perhaps it is time to charge the aggressor with assault, convict him and make him serve some time. If the NHL won’t police itself, let’s take the responsibility away from the league and move to it to a higher level.
Without Leafs, Hockey Night bumped
The CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada lost its regular perch as the most watched sports telecast of the weekend when CTV drew 1.64 million viewers for the Dallas Cowboys-Minnesota division final on Sunday.
Hockey Night was in tough on Saturday. Not only was it competing against the Baltimore Ravens-Indianapolis Colts telecast on CTV, but it was also without its leading audience producer, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Without Leafs, who were idle, Hockey drew 1.169 million for the Ottawa Senators-Montreal Canadiens game. Over the course of the season, the telecast, with Leafs, has been averaging about 1.7 million viewers.
Two more NFL playoff games surpassed the Hockey Night audience. CTV drew 1.5 million for New Orleans-Arizona and 1.2 million for Colts-Ravens, both on Saturday.
TSN had 1.04 million for New York Jets-San Diego Charges on Sunday.
CTV’s NFL pre-game show on Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET, was watched by 385,000. The 7:30 p.m. NFL pre-game pulled in 534,000.
Hockey Night’s pre-game was watched by 396,000.
Hockey Night’s Game 2, Pittsburgh-Vancouver, drew 1.085 million.
Regional hockey audiences: On Sportsnet, Calgary-Nashville, Friday, 278,000; Edmonton-San Jose, Saturday, 118,000; Calgary-Anaheim, Sunday, 216,000.
Figure Skating: Canadian championships, CBC, Free dance, Sunday, 375,000; men’s free, Sunday, 676,000; Saturday, pairs free, 338,000; original dance, women’s free, 514,000.
Basketball: Dallas-Toronto, Sunday, CBC, 205,000.
Soccer: English Premier League, Saturday, Sportsnet, 82,000.
New Toronto Sun editor
No announcement yet, but you can take this to the bank: Dave Fuller is out as sports editor of the Toronto Sun. He will be replaced by Bill Pierce, a showbiz editor. Fuller will return to writing. He previously covered the Argonauts and Leafs for the Sun.
Filed under Article Posts · · 
Email This Article
I can't wait till Patrice goes back onto the ice. He'll be red target to other players to send him to the hospital. This kid is a disgrace to the sport and should never play again.
Fair enough on the low HNIC number without the Leafs, but the NFL was crucial to that too, as was the fact that the Sens game was on two stations (CBC and RDS) that are widely available in Ottawa.
Are RDS numbers available to you, William?
I agree, the NFL took viewers away from HNIC as well as people angry with the CBC rarely showing the Canadiens nationally have switched to RDS permanently. Looking at the BBM.ca site and Houston's past blogs, the Leafs do get a lower audience when the Canadiens are not on HNIC.
So glad I found this blog. I've been wondering what happened to William Houston … I used to enjoy his columns at the Globe.
I am not sure if G&M replaced Houston's column with Usual Suspects/Bruce Dowbiggin but if they did … what were they thinking?!?
I've seen it written that Kypreos criticized Roy for contacting the authorities too, though I didn't hear Kypreos say so myself.
It was a horrible thing for Cormier to do, that's for sure. If Tam were going a little faster or positioned a little differently or any number of other small circumstances were different, he could have been killed. And that's not hyperbole, this is the kind of hit that will kill somebody on the ice in a hockey game. It will happen some day. And to be honest, I just hope it doesn't happen in junior to a kid who's 16-20 years old. To see Tam convulse on the ice like that or to read about that Sanderson kid last year dying after a fight in a senior league is bad enough.
Most of the time, I have a neutral opinion on "head shots" in the NHL. When the game is played with the speed it is and especially when you have various size of players competing with one another sometimes it is very subjective as too what was an intentional head shot and what was simply a mis match in size.
However, it is pretty obvious to me on this play. This is clearly a pre-mediated intent to injure assault, not a unitentional head shot or stray elbow. At the least, he should be gone for the balance of the year and playoffs.
Curious as to whether there is available a regional breakdown of viewership for Saturday night"s NHL games on CBC. With the Maple Leafs not playing its quite understandable the overall numbers would be down, given the fact that Toronto and southern Ontario viewers might be less inclined to watch a game not featuring the Leafs. So…….what about the rest of Canada????????? How do/did numbers compare without the Greater Toronto area factored in???
Of course I meant CBS, Not NBC.
Hi Bill, I'd say the Sunday night Jets-Chargers would have been the highest rated NFL game for sure. We're just counting TSN Numbers here – I don't know of anyone who would watch it on TSN when the NBC feed is available. I bet 2M+ would be the real number. Thoughts?
Good point, JGH. It was a great game and NBC viewers would not have been counted.
that's an assault, not a hockey play. send him to jail.
the NFL decided they wanted fewer head injuries and went with a seemingly over-the-top policy. the players adjusted and now you see fewer helmet to helmet hits, fewer QBs getting their heads driven into the turf, and fewer late hits on defenceless players. Hitting is just as much a part of the game in NFL as it is in the NHL.
The only plausible conclusion is that the state of play in the NHL reflects the wishes of its directorship. The numbers speak for themselves about how widely palatable the product is.
Oh, for crying out loud. It's no different than a hundred other elbows to the head, save for the final result. I suppose you wanted to throw Kyle McLaren in jail in 2002 for his cheap shot on Richard Zednik? Or Mike Richards for his hit on David Booth earlier this season?
Yes, the result means that the punishment will be different: that's how our justice system works. But let's not get wrapped up in our rhetoric here: it was a nasty hit, completely unnecessary, and a scary scene all around, but jail time? Lifetime ban? Come on, folks.
Doogie… your examples of McLaren and Richards serving time is a start of many dozens of players who crossed the line. If hockey players knew that they are not above the law, innocent players will not be unduly hurt. I've heard the same old argument for 50 years now about how hockey polices itself and "hockey guys" know best. Seems to me the game is getting more violent and dangerous each year. Sadly it will take an on-ice death to start the process to reform. My bet that time is not too far away.
And Doogie…
There is a big difference between the acceptance of risk in playing a sport and being specifically targeted with an intent to injure was was Cormier's intent. This wasn't a hockey play, it was assault, plain and simple.
We should know soon what the Quebec Provincial Police think about it. My guess is that charges will be laid as Jonathan Roy's case will act a precedent as a hockey player taking things too far. Cormier's actions were far worse!