This is hockey's worst year.
After the dizzying heights of the golden goal that gave Canada the gold medal championship on home ice at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, it has all unravelled in 2011. Gone downhill so quickly and so tragically. Has hockey hit rock-bottom yet?
The decline of hockey began with the hits suffered in back-to-back games Jan. 1 and Jan. 5 by Pittsburgh Penguins' superstar Sidney Crosby. The first, on New Year's Day in Pittsburgh's Heinz Field, was during the National Hockey League's marquee Winter Classic outdoor game. It wasn't immediately apparent, but Crosby had suffered a concussion that ended his season and put his career at risk.
Hockey's downfall continued with Boston Bruins' captain Zdeno Chara's ugly hit on Max Pacioretty on March 8. The Montreal Canadien appeared to have been steered face-first into a stanchion by the big Bruin. The incident prompted several NHL sponsors, such as Air Canada, Scotiabank and Tim Hortons, to speak out. The NHL did create new rules and a protocol for dealing with suspected concussions, but calls remain for an outright ban on blows to the head.
New York Rangers' enforcer Derek Boogaard, who had been troubled by concussions, was found dead May 13 in Minneapolis. He had taken a deadly cocktail of alcohol and oxycontin. His brother was charged with providing him the unprescribed, highly addictive painkiller.
There was brief jubilation in Winnipeg on May 31 when it was announced the Atlanta Thrashers would move there. By June 4, the 13,000 season ticket sales quota was reached for the new Jets. The Thrashers had fans in Atlanta, just not enough, and the team would have folded without the move north. But the real, old Jets franchise remains the Phoenix Coyotes in Glendale, Az., on the league's life support while a new owner is sought and more taxpayers' dollars are thrown down the drain in an area hit hard by the recession.
Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final turned ugly June 6 with the late hit by Vancouver Canuck Aaron Rome on Boston Bruin Nathan Horton. The image of Horton lying on his back, motionless and expressionless, was not one the NHL wanted viewers to see. The Bruins were already missing Marc Savard, who suffered a season-ending concussion in February. The hit on Horton was the moment the underdog Bruins awoke and rebounded from a 2-0 deficit to win four of the next five games and the Cup.
Lord Stanley's mug was awarded to the away team at Rogers Arena on June 15. The President's Trophy-winning Canucks saved their worst effort for their last, most important game. After the 4-0 loss, the fans that remained in the arena offered two minutes of hate for Bettman. Objects were thrown his way. Meanwhile, outside the arena, the streets of Vancouver became a war zone as thousands of Canucks' fans rioted and looted. Vancouver city hall naively tried to recreate the street party atmosphere of the 2010 WInter Olympics, but instead duplicated 1994 when the Canucks also lost in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup and locals rioted.
Most of us who watch hockey thought the Stanley Cup riot was the nadir. We thought there would be charges for rioters and looters and some culpability admitted by the public officials who, like the Canucks, didn't give 100% that night. But Labour Day came and went in No Fault City.
Ex-Canuck enforcer Rick Rypien's depression led to his Aug. 15 suicide that nobody seems to want to address. On Aug. 31, ex-Maple Leaf Wade Belak also committed suicide. But we learned so quickly that it was by hanging and that happy-go-lucky, retired enforcer Belak, too, had a lengthy bout with depression.
The goons are going, going, gone. Will the NHL do the right thing and ban fighting? It's bad for the brain and bad for the mind and no longer necessary for the game, especially in the Stanley Cup or Olympics.
Then the unthinkable. On Sept. 7, a Russian jet carrying an entire team -- Lokomotiv Yaroslavi of Russia's Kontinental Hockey League -- crashed as their Yak-42 jet was taking off for the team's first road trip of the season to Belarus. Of the 28 players, only one survived. The victims include ex-Bruin and new coach Brad McCrimmon and ex-Canuck Pavol Demitra. Demitra was the top point-getter of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics tournament with 10.
The same day, Crosby faced the media with his concussion specialists. The most dynamic, talented player of this era talked about struggling with the brain injury and his desire to return. Will he be as good as he was? Time will tell, but when will be the time? It may not be Oct. 6 in Vancouver, where he scored the most-watched goal in hockey history. And why didn't Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins postpone their news conference for a day, out of respect for the victims of the Russian tragedy?
Has hockey hit rock-bottom? When will the glory days and good feeling of 2010 return?
Was Feb. 28, 2010 as good as it ever was or ever will be?
For Crosby?
For hockey?
