The Printed Word

Michal Gutwald in the media room after Sunday's game Michal Gutwald ended Sunday’s game with  a man of the match award, stitches above and below his eye, and something else - the respect of the fans and his team-mates. When Fife Flyers’ defenceman squared up to Belfast Giants’ Matt Pelech he probably knew it wasn’t going to end well. It was an instinctive thing to do. It was also the right thing to do. Pelech’s elbow to the back of Paul Crowder’s head was cheap, lazy and crude. The very sort of action that DOPS never tires of reminding players have no place in the modern game - and that they are responsible for their own actions. On the basis of that mantra, supplementary discipline ought to follow as logically as night follows day. The  2+10 penalty called by the officials was largely viewed as inadequate, with most observers going for a clear cut, stonewall five plus game. The Giants’ player will simply swallow any suspension - it comes with the ...

There is a clear line between opinion and abuse. Sport thrives on one, is buckled by the other. The echo chamber that is Twitter is filled with the thunder of outrage after so many hockey games - a sound and fury that is harsh in tone, and, too often,  spiteful in its delivery. One fan recently started a petition to try to remove referee Stefan Hogarth. It has a mighty 38 signatures after a full week online. And, at the weekend,  one fan hurled a foam Chuck-A-Puck over the plexi as the stripeys left the ice at Sheffield after a stormy period of hockey. The petition and the foam puck may be blunt, juvenile weapons, but there is a much bigger issue here which cannot be ignored. At what stage does the sport say enough is enough? Clearly it was a horrible night at the office in Sheffield. Steelers obviously weren’t much better, slumping to a 7-3 home loss to Cardiff Devils. Pretty sure that wasn’t all down to some rubbish calls from the officials eithe...