Violence In Hockey, Chapter 176

A month ago, I wrote a post on violence in hockey. Since then, there was the Max Pacioretty incident, where Boston Bruins defender Zdeno Chara got suspended for a grand total of zero games for attempting to sever the head off the young Habs forward using a pole.

Some of my favourite reactions come from people such as Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau, who said:

You don't like it, don't come to the games.

Which would make sense in a normal, capitalistic society. But the NHL is not that. At all. As a matter of fact, if for just one game, out of protest, the Bell Centre would only be half-full, the victims wouldn't be the Montréal Canadiens, one of the league's richest franchises; no, it'd be more likely to be Boudreau's Caps, who get about a third of the money they put on their payroll from Canadian NHL treams through revenue sharing, because the 6 Canadian teams make double what the rest of the league makes in revenue - despite two of the top-5 moneymakers being American - the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings, of course.

So... biting the hand that feeds, Brucie?