Blatant Cheapshots Mar Michigan State-Michigan Hockey Game

There has been much talk lately about the future of fighting in hockey. One of the primary issues facing the sport is a growing trend where players tend to respond to clean, hard, legal checks with illegal hits. As long as that's happening, it's hard for me to argue for the elimination of fighting.

Saturday night in Ann Arbor, Michigan saw another one of these types of responses in a college game, where ighting has been a no-no for years. Michigan's Steve Kampfer, who recently returned from a skull fracture in a vicious off-ice assault, threw a hard, but legal, hit on Corey Tropp of Michigan State. The response of two Spartan players to that hit was absolutely reprehensible, and has landed Kampfer back in the hospital.

Before we go any further, take a look at the video.

Andrew Conboy's horrifying response to Kampfer's legal hit started the whole thing. Nobody knows what Tropp would have done if Conboy didn't slug Kampfer from behind first. And though it's hard to tell where Tropp made contact when he slashed Kampfer, I'm thinking I don't care. It was obviously in the upper body, and it was disgusting.

Oh, and he slashed a player who was probably unconscious at the time. There's a special place in hockey hell for people like that.

Kudos to Central Collegiate Hockey Association referees Kevin Hall and Keith Sergott, at least for half of this. They gave Tropp a double game disqualification, meaning he will miss a minimum of three games. I'm not an officiating expert, but it's hard to imagine them doing more to Tropp from their standpoint. A major penalty and two game disqualifications is a huge on-ice penalty. It's up to the school and the league from here.

Meanwhile, Conboy only got a double-minor for roughing, meaning the CCHA will have to deal with him on their own. That's inexplicable to me, as all he did was blindside an opposing player and knock him out.

Let's hope the league does just that. If Conboy and Tropp aren't suspended for the remainder of the season, justice hasn't been served. The Michigan State hockey team and the university in general should be embarrassed by that behavior, and they shouldn't tolerate the perpetrators putting on the MSU jersey again this season.

I'm not going to blame this hit on the lack of fighting in college hockey. What I will say is that fighting, when done the right way, encourages players to have respect for their fellow players, as well as respect for the game. Andrew Conboy and Corey Tropp don't have any respect for the game, and it wouldn't matter if dropping the gloves wasn't so frowned-upon in the college game.

However, I will say that you're likely to see crap like this more often in pro hockey if fighting is washed out. Do people get hurt in fights? Yes, but more people are going to get more seriously injured if the players aren't allowed to police themselves.

(Tap of the stick: Western College Hockey)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-25-2009 @ 3:57PM

smindc78 said...

Amen... fighting keeps guys from doing things like carving each other up with sticks, or for lack of a better word Bertuzzi'ing each other out there.

I'd argue the stick fouls are more egregious at the college and other amateur levels because there is no fighting.

1-25-2009 @ 5:23PM

tradinpaint29 said...

Must of been written by a Michigan fan. First of all there is no excuse for waht happened. You are led to wonder IF any Michigan players instigated this by earlier actions on their accounts. This is a rivalry that always very intense. The cheap shots happen FROM BOTH teams. This leads to the escalation of such incidents. To go so far to say they dhould never play again, B.S. Look in your own house first!!

1-25-2009 @ 5:55PM

G said...

Learn to spell and use English. Oh, and the Caps Lock key in such a way that doesn't cause people to suspect brain damage.

Finally, Ciskie's a Wisconsin fan and former hockey announcer for Minnesota-Duluth. He knows what he's talking about, and he's about as unbiased as you're going to get.

1-25-2009 @ 9:22PM

Skapanza said...

"The cheap shots happen FROM BOTH teams."

Really? Really?!?

Yeah, the refs turned a blind eye when Michigan players sucker-punched MSU players and then delivered two-handed slashes to their unconscious upper bodies.

Look at our own house first? Bruce Ciskie is an impartial observer, and he agrees it was a filthy play. The view from Ann Arbor is much, much harsher than Bruce's take. MSU was losing, being badly outplayed, and out of frustration went way over the line. Do you honestly think that there was instigation that warranted that kind of hit and the ensuing slash? Idiotic.

1-25-2009 @ 5:26PM

Nick said...

The two players should absolutely be suspended for a long time, no question. But to suggest that fighting prevents this sort of thing is ridiculous. It's exactly the opposite. Because there's a culture of fighting, it's more acceptable to throw a cheap shot. Plus, players grow up watching goons fight in the NHL and think it's ok to retaliate for hard (but clean) hits by throwing punches.

1-25-2009 @ 5:45PM

Pasko said...

Michigan State = losers.

1-25-2009 @ 6:05PM

David said...

tradinpant...the author is a Wisconsin fan, so no, it was not written by a Michigan person.

If you had seen these two teams play at all this season, you would have seen the disparity in talent level and how frustrated that was making the MSU players on the ice...any chance they could scrum, they did. The MSU press release attempted to blame the escalation on Aaron Palushaj taking Palmisano out immediately before a Michigan goal. From the angle that I saw, Palushaj was pushed into the MSU goalie by an MSU player, and while getting up, Palmisano took the chance to dive, hoping to get a PP for his team, down one score at the time. Even if Palushaj had taken Palmisano out in this play, it is not even close to the same level of what conboy and tropp did.

If you had watched the game, you would see that the cheap shots did NOT come from both teams. Michigan was playing hockey, MSU looked like District 5 after Coach Bombay taught them how to dive.

1-25-2009 @ 10:48PM

Doug said...

The video wasn't the best, everything that happened after the check was at best 1/2 in the picture. Did an MSU player slash the Michigan player, and then hit him again after he went down?

1-26-2009 @ 2:58AM

Sonic said...

From what I saw/heard, the MSU player hit him from behind (similar to the Bertuzzi/Moore fiasco), and then the other MSU player hit him with his stick while he was on the ground.

Truly atrocious behavior, the person that placed the hit should probably be suspended for at least a good portion of the season (if not all of it), and the player that hit him with his stick should get 10 games minimum.

1-26-2009 @ 11:58PM

prefontaine135 said...

Doug here is a better video just post on the blog the yost built (yostbuilt.com)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI-sYE1DsMs&eurl=http://www.yostbuilt.com/&feature=player_embedded

1-27-2009 @ 10:45AM

The penalties being handed out to the MSU players by Michigan State is not enough. They are suspended for the rest of the season, which is dead to MSU already, as they are in the basement of the CCHA. The comments from the CCHA seem to suggest that they are content with the suspensions meted out by MSU's coach.

This is entirely unacceptable. Suspending the players for the rest of the season (with no games left against Michigan) is an entirely meaningless punishment. Under these conditions, both players will be on the ice next year against Kampfer and the Wolverines.

If the CCHA wants to look even remotely concerned over the safety of players, these suspensions need to be extended into next season at the bare minimum, especially for Tropp, whose two-handed slash to Kampfer's unconscious upper body is on par with many of Chris Simon's heinous acts. It was bad enough to overshadow Conboy's Bertuzzi-ing of Kampfer in the first place, which is really something.

This is unacceptable, and you can e-mail the MSU AD Mark Hollis at AD@ath.msu.edu if you want to voice your displeasure. This could really be a black eye for college hockey if they are allowed to be slapped on the wrist like this.

1-29-2009 @ 11:45PM

hockeyfan3232 said...

It was a cheapshot, the two state players should be punished for their immature and dangerous behavior. I feel bad for the kid who was hurt, but for all these ridiculously naïve people acting like this is the first time someone's been unfairly hurt in sports, just tonight a Michigan basketball player blatantly elbowed an OSU player in the face during a free throw. I'm not a fan of either team I am a sports fan and it's not difficult to recognize that Michigan State is on the rise (resurrected football program and promising recruits, Big-Ten leading/top-ten in the nation basketball team) and Wolverine fans (boasting a joke of a football program with nothing bright on the horizon, mediocre basketball team who might when the NIT if they’re luck and a pretty good hockey team; didn’t MSU win a national hockey title recently?) are clinging to anything that makes them feel like they still are "the leaders and the best".

1-29-2009 @ 11:52PM

It was a cheapshot, the two state players should be punished for their immature and dangerous behavior. I feel bad for the kid who was hurt, but for all these ridiculously naïve people acting like this is the first time someone's been unfairly hurt in sports, just tonight a Michigan basketball player blatantly elbowed an OSU player in the face during a free throw. I'm not a fan of either team but I am a sports fan and it's not difficult to recognize that Michigan State is on the rise (resurrected football program and promising recruits, Big-Ten leading/top-ten in the nation basketball team) and Wolverine fans (boasting a joke of a football program whose best player recently transferred, mediocre basketball team who might when the NIT if they’re lucky, and a pretty good hockey team; didn’t MSU win a national hockey title recently?) are clinging to anything that makes them feel like they still are "the leaders and the best".

2-01-2009 @ 8:40PM

regal25th said...

I agree that there is no place in the game for incidents like this, but didn't the NHL send a message that this was OK when Todd Bertuzzi is still allowed to play? The European leagues banned him for life from playing at all in those leagues, besides he PARALYZED a man and took his career from him, doesn't that have some meaning when it comes to punishment? I have watched Tropp and Conboy since they played in the USHL (where fighting is legal). If they had the opportunity to settle this like gentlemen and face-off, mano y mano, there would be alot less of this behavior.