That Rick Rypien attacked a fan isn’t all that shocking. That incidents like this one don’t happen more often in the NHL, well, that’s a bit more surprising.
As he returned to the locker room after being assessed a double minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct Tuesday, the Vancouver Canucks enforcer (and cousin of former Redskins quarterback Mark Rypien) grabbed James Engquist, a 28-year-old fan at the railing. Manny Malhotra managed to pull his teammate off Engquist before anything serious happened.
Now Rypien faces an indefinite suspension that definitely should reach double digits, if only to send a message that his actions were inexcusable.
But certainly not unbelievable.
Violence begets violence. Isn’t that the argument made by soccer moms about video games like “Grand Theft Auto,” that virtual carjackings and muggings will result in actual crimes when the little hoodlums grow up? So in the NHL, a sport that doesn’t promote fighting but certainly condones it (see Rule 46 of the NHL’s official rulebook), is it surprising that the fisticuffs spill over?
If football is a metaphor for war, with two armies fighting to control territory (and don’t forget the NFL is having violence issues of its own this week), then perhaps the hockey rink is akin to a gladiatorial arena and the players are but armored warriors wielding weapons of fiberglass (see Ciccarelli, Dino). And sometimes these gladiators want to reach out and touch those in the crowd judging them thumbs down.
Most of the time, that’s just not possible. Hockey gives the fans less access than the three other major team sports, surrounding the rink and benches with plexiglass to protect the fans — and to isolate the players. On Tuesday, the tunnel to the dressing room wasn’t in the correct spot, leaving a gap that gave Rypien access to the fans and vice versa. And maybe that’s the precipitating factor here.
But not the only one. This isn’t a diatribe about fighting in hockey; the gloves-dropping, sweater-pulling wrestling matches often spice up the game. It just that they sometimes lead to something else.
