FanHouse NhlViolence

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

The big story of from Wednesday was, obviously, the record-setting 30-game suspension handed down to Chris Simon for getting all stompy. The suspension prompted all sorts of reactions and emotions from interested parties all around the league.

The NHLPA is 'baffled' at how long Simon was suspended for, thinking their boy would get 15 games, at most. If Chris Simon does appeal, the NHLPA would lend their full support. It would also show that Simon really doesn't have any remorse for his actions nor understand the punishment he received.

Speaking of remorse, commenter 'jw300' made a great point about how Simon doesn't seem to care about how his actions affect the people he's intending to injure.

Simon HAS made a statement and it goes like this: "I want to start off by making it clear that there is no excuse for my actions on Saturday night and I apologize to everyone involved." The Islanders and I agree that the right thing to do is for me to take some time away from the team."

Again, he doesn't specifically apologize to the victim. Instead he makes a generalized, blanket apology. I agree that psychologically, that says a lot. This guy has some short circuited wires in his brain and he needs serious help and a lifetime ban from the NHL.

The news that coach Marc Crawford's locker room marching orders may have led to Todd Bertuzzi's infamous attack on Steve Moore is painful, damning, embarrassing ... really, pick any adjective with a negative connotation for what it means for hockey. Jim Kelley of SI.com calls it a "PR nightmare." Even FanHouse's MJD centered today's "Debriefing" on the story, and the only time hockey enters that level of his conversation is when he wants to pull down his jockeys and dump on it.

The story is so big that it inspired Steve Shannon to run to the phone and call in to "NHL Live" on XM Satellite Radio this afternoon about the controversy. Shannon is the former coach of the currently defunct Motor City Mechanics whom the United Hockey League suspended in 2005 for allegedly offering his players a $200 bounty to take out an opponent. (Shannon denies the bounty was ever offered, and claims two of his players have signed affidavits that back him up.) On the air with hosts Don La Greca and EJ Hradek, he defended Crawford, claiming that a coach simply saying Moore must "pay the price" wasn't enough to damn him in light of Bertuzzi's eventual actions. "There's plenty of activity that can take place that can get a guy's attention," he said. "There's no reason to go after a guy otherwise, outside the rules. To put blame on a coach, I just don't think that's necessary."

La Greca pressed him on the issue, asking if Crawford shouldn't receive some punishment for encouraging the hit. Shannon continued:

"It has to go back to what he actually said. To say that somebody should 'pay the price' and turn that around into 'something illegal should happen, outside the rules of the game?' I don't think the term 'pay the price' means 'hurt somebody outside the rules of the game.'"

It was an interesting, impromptu moment for a show that's been making its share of headlines lately. Later, Hradek ended the interview with some unsolicited advice for the unscheduled call-in guest: Next time, increase the bounty. "$200 isn't going to get it done, Steve," said Hradek. Tongue-in-cheek. I think.

How can we not go through Hallowe'en mentioning gore? How can we not mention gore and bring up the goriest incident the NHL has ever experienced?

For those feint of heart, I'd skip this altogether. Otherwise, let us recount one of the scariest incidents in the league's history, just to spook the hell out of you.

March 22, 1989 - Clint Malarchuk nearly bled to death on the ice after taking a skate blade to the throat. As defender Uwe Krupp and Blackhawks forward Steve Tuttle drove towards the net, Tuttle feel and somehow his skate ended up hitting Malarchuk in the worst spot possible.

I was 10 years old at the time, and remember seeing the incident on TV. It still remains one of my most vivid memories from that period in my life, and my first real experience with anything close to death (other than the deer my father shot on his hunting trips). I can't imagine being one of his teammates on the ice, feeling helpless at Malarchuk continued to lose blood at an alarming rate.

"I did think I was done," said Malarchuk 13 years later, "Somewhere I'd heard that if you cut your jugular vein you've got a matter of minutes, like three minutes. I was going through the minutes preparing to die. I thought I had just three minutes to live and I've got a lot of repenting to do in three minutes."

The sight was so grizzly that 2 spectators suffered heart attacks and 3 of Malarchuk's teammates vomited while still on the ice.

It was estimated that if the skate hit 1/8 inch higher on Malarchuk's jugular, he would have been dead within 2 minutes. In the dressing room and on his way to the hospital, doctors spent 90 minutes and used over 300 stitches to close the wound.