As the Canadiens continue to attempt to lock down a playoff position in the final six games of the season, they appeared to be fully ready to play a Florida Panthers club that was playing their third game in four nights. They completely blitzed the Panthers with three goals in the first 14 minutes of play, chasing James Reimer (who had unexpectedly started the game for Florida) from the net, and demoralizing them from mounting any sort of respectable comeback. The 6-1 victory was a near perfect game against a road weary opposition, and helped create some optimism that the team might actually make it to the postseason.
Yet, after the game, the discussion was dominated about a fight between Paul Byron and MacKenzie Weegar that knocked the diminutive Byron out of the game, within the first three minutes of action. This game marked the first time since mid January that Byron and Weegar shared the same ice surface. In their prior meeting, Byron was suspended for three games after delivering an elbow to the head of Weegar. Byron, who is from all accounts a respectful player, publicly apologized to Weegar for the hit, and appeared remorseful for his actions. He served the time that the NHL had doled out to him. In the modern NHL, where fighting has largely been eliminated, it may have been surmised that the matter was closed, that bygones be bygones. Yet, there was a 5’7, 160 lbs Byron dropping the gloves with 6’0, 210 lbs Weegar, in one final act of atonement. Byron was dropped to the ice with a single punch, and appeared to have been concussed as he was helped off the playing surface by the club trainers. The club announced at the start of the second period that Byron would be done for the night. On Wednesday morning, the club announced that Paul Byron would not be traveling with the team for Thursday night’s pivotal game against the Blue Jackets.
Unfortunately, in spite of players remarking on how important it is to be disciplined in the throes of a playoff race, and how coaches emphasize the importance of “safe and simple hockey” during these times, it appears that respecting the “code of the game” was more of a priority for Paul Byron in a pivotal game. Why did he feel the need to fight a much larger, more physical player? Had he rejected the call to fight, would the Panthers have called him a coward as the game wore on, maybe even suckering him in what ended up being a blowout loss? I suppose being concussed in an honourable way was preferable to these possibilities. Should the onus have been on Claude Julien to protect Byron further, knowing that this was the first time the players would be meeting since the initial hit? In this scenario, would he change his winning lineup to accommodate respect for the code?
All too often in hockey, “the code” gets in the way of common sense and the hockey players’ devotion to these arbitrary set of assumed rules is what prevents sensible discussion on the role of fighting in the game. As a result of this irrational worship of “the code,” (and some unfortunate luck) the Canadiens will be without one of their most versatile, responsible and energetic players in their most important game of the year on Thursday night. If the Canadiens lose, and fail to make the playoffs, you wonder what is this game and sport ultimately about, when players are more concerned about honouring the code than being on the ice to help their team win games.
Jaideep Kanungo
Jaikan Sport 