THE NHL : Stopping Enforcers Is Way to End Violence

When John Ziegler, acting as judge and jury, banged his gavel last week, the reverberations could be felt nearly 3,000 miles away.

The NHL president, dispensing justice swiftly and strictly through league Vice President Brian O’Neill, slapped King left wing Luc Robitaille with a four-game suspension for cross-checking Craig Simpson of the Edmonton Oilers from behind.

“I got hit. I hit him back,” said Robitaille.

That appeared to be true, but, these days, that’s not an acceptable excuse. The league is cracking down on violence. Especially stick fouls.

The results are positive. Through the first five weeks of the season, the average number of penalty minutes a game was just over 44. That’s 8% fewer than a year ago when the average was 48.

Two seasons ago, the average stood at 50.4 minutes.

Good, but not good enough.

Why stop with stick fouls? Why wait until blood is running or bones are breaking to get tough?

Now that there is finally some long-awaited momentum in the right direction, there is no reason to limit retribution to the skilled, nonviolent types, like Robitaille, who showed an uncharacteristic display of temper.

Go after the real fighters, who contribute little to the game and take away some of its appeal to the general public.

We’re not talking radical move here. We’re not suggesting that checking into the boards be forbidden. We’re not advocating turning hockey into a noncontact sport. Nor stemming the aggressiveness of players like Robitaille or Simpson.

Sure, when they get out of line, they ought to be punished.

But the real targets ought to be the so-called goons.

NHL hockey is played on two levels.

There are those who live on their finesse, talented skaters whose purpose is to pass the puck, score goals and play some hard-nosed defense.

And there are those who survive on their fighting skills.

They are called goons, thugs, enforcers. Every team has a couple.

They know who they are and they seek each other out to engage in what has become an anachronistic ritual.

Usually at least once a game, they will throw down their sticks and gloves, pull each other’s sweaters over their heads and flail away, hitting pads and helmets, but little else.

Under those circumstances, they can do about as much harm as Evander Holyfield, with a blanket thrown over him, swinging away at a knight in armor.

Since little damage is done, the officials calmly stand by until the two fighters are exhausted. Then, the battlers are dispatched to the penalty box.

The whole performance has come to look like something out of Wrestlemania. With about as much relevance to hockey.

The goons once served as intimidators, protectors of their own stars and, sometimes, motivating forces for their teams.

But it became like the arms race. Team A got a goon, so team B got a goon. So Team A got two goons. And so on.

With the speed of the game these days, stars don’t need protectors.

And any emotional value in these fights has been lost because they have become so predictable.

It’s not King vs. Flame. Or Oiler vs. Ranger.

It’s goon against goon in private little wars that seem to have little to do with their uniforms or loyalties or the game around them.

So let them wage those wars elsewhere.

Fine them. Suspend them. Ship them to Don King or Bob Arum in Las Vegas to fill out boxing undercards.

And give hockey to the skaters.

Progress report: Pittsburgh Penguin center Mario Lemieux is on target to return to the ice.

He has appeared in only one game since February because of back problems.

First, there was the herniated disk that required surgery last summer, then there was an infection diagnosed as vertebral osteomyelitis that could have ended Lemieux’s career at 25.

However, antibiotics appear to have cleared up the infection, and there is no evidence of tissue damage and Lemieux plans to put on skates next month, hoping to get into a game in January.

Family feud: Coach Doug Risebrough of the Calgary Flames is not one to shrink from an argument with an official.

Even if that official happens to be referee Terry Gregson, who just happens to be his brother-in-law.

Gregson is married to Risebrough’s sister, Laura.

That doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll hold his tongue, Risebrough said, if controversy erupts.

After all, Risebrough figures, “He’s not going to tell my sister anything that I tell him.”

He probably wouldn’t dare.

I’ll drink to that: General Manager David Poile of the Washington Capitals shouldn’t have been too surprised that defenseman Scott Stevens jumped to the St. Louis Blues this season after becoming a free agent.

Poile got the first clue during a summer meeting with Stevens about the player’s contract.

Poile said: “He was sitting there, drinking out of a St. Louis Blues mug.”