Today NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced the punishment for Sean Avery of the Dallas Stars. Avery will be suspended 6 games for the off-the-cuff comments he made on Tuesday about other NHL players and his former girlfriends. Bettman has also required that Avery be given an anger management evaluation.
Was the suspension too much? Not according to many of Avery’s teammates, former teammates, and the owner of the Stars.
Had the league not have suspended him, the Dallas Stars would have. This organization will not tolerate such behavior, especially from a member of our hockey team. We hold our team to a higher standard and will continue to do so. -Tom Hicks, Dallas Stars Owner
Here’s where I stand. Hockey players are often looked at in America (by the people I know, at least) as the hardworking sports stars. The guys who play because they want to, not for the money. The cup is the dream, not the contract. My wife has fallen in love with the sport because of this. She doesn’t want to see Joe Sakic in some magazine pitching some product. she wants to see him score goals.
Sean Avery has sullied that image with a comment that is more fitting for a tiff between two football players. Nobody cares about Sean Avery’s sloppy seconds. Yeah, the hockey world was buzzing when Jose Theodore was tied to a celeb who shall remain nameless. But honestly I heard about it long after it was all over. Hockey fans care about one thing: Hockey. When you tarnish the sport’s image you are going to make a lot of people mad.
To make it look like hockey is full of bickering children is not something I think any hockey player would have got away with. The suspension in my opinion has been a long time coming and is the result of the culmination of so many other offenses as well as this most recent media stunt. The anger management evaluation may or may not be necessary but should definitely help.
I applaud Mr. Bettman for helping to show not only Avery, but the rest of the NHL and the public, that hockey is, and will continue to be, a classy sport. Anyone who acts otherwise will be dealt with.
Please comment below and let me know what you think.