By Ellen Chlumecky

January 22, 2015

As one of many long time Blackhawks fans, we have been through many ups and downs throughout our time as fans. We have encountered a long dry spell of losing, coaches who didn’t fit the bill, and players who sometimes seemed like they didn’t have a clue. Recently, one of the Blackhawks’ players has been acting inappropriately on the ice and is being rightly punished for it. This player is Daniel Carcillo.

Daniel Carcillo was suspended for six games on Monday because of his actions. Carcillo crosschecked Winnipeg Jets forward Mathieu Perreault on Friday, January 16th. Carcillo skated up behind Perreault and cross checked him in a downward motion. Carcillo connected his stick to Perreault’s left arm in the final seconds of the second period. Perreault did not return to the game after that and did not play again for the Jets on Sunday.

The league’s department of player safety discussed how they took into account the incident and Carcillo’s disciplinary history in deciding the appropriate length of the suspension. Carcillo will forfeit six games’ worth of salary, which equates to $40, 243.92.

This isn’t Carcillo’s first time with the Blackhawks. He had a one-year deal with the Blackhawks for the 2011-2012 season. This also isn’t the first time Carcillo has been suspended. Carcillo has been suspended or fined eleven previous times in his nine NHL seasons. Carcillo was last suspended in the playoffs last season when he elbowed a linesman in the face while Carcillo was being restrained. He was initially suspended ten games for abuse of officials and later had the suspension reduced to six games.

While Carcillo did not believe he did anything wrong or malicious, Winnipeg Jets’ coach thought a little differently. Paul Maurice who is the Winnipeg Jets; head coach said, “It was a vicious crosscheck to an unsuspecting player.” I personally fully agree with Maurice, even as a dedicated Blackhawks fan, I truly believe what Carcillo did wasn’t appropriate.

While of course hockey is an aggressive sport, there needs to be a line drawn in terms of safety. There have been far too many incidents in the sport of hockey where people have been permanently injured because certain players have a lack of respect for other people’s safety. There are ways to hit someone in the sport of hockey that don’t lead to permanent or career-ending damage.

I understand that hockey teams need tough players to defend their smaller players, however there is a line what they should or should not be allowed to do. While Carcillo said he had no intentions of hurting another player, I don’t believe you crosscheck without some intention of hurting someone an exponential amount. Many of these players need to understand that one wrong move and they could damage or permanently end someone’s career.