Blackhawks' Joel Quenneville Fined $10K

After watching his team get thumped on its home ice, 6-1 on Sunday afternoon, Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville sounded off in the postgame press conference, berating the officiating crew of Marc Joannette and Kevin Pollock for issuing Matt Walker a roughing penalty at the end of the first period, leading to Detroit's third goal of the game.

Quenneville called it the worst call in the history of sports, and essentially used it as an excuse for his team not showing up in the second and third periods. As punishment for his rant, the NHL announced on Monday that Quenneville will be fined $10,000.

While I have no problem with the NHL fining him for what was, basically, a temper tantrum, I'm kind of troubled that the NHL would issue such a harsh fine. Consider this: Ryan Bayda was recently fined just $2,500 for a match penalty that led to a line brawl in the closing minutes of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. In the previous series, Scott Walker was fined the same amount ($2,500) for his one-punch knockout of Boston Bruins defenseman Aaron Ward, which is identical to what Chris Kunitz received for cross-checking Simeon Varlamov in the head.

Is criticizing the officiating crew, regardless of how absurd the criticism is, $7,500 more severe than starting a line brawl at the end of a game that's already been decided (especially when the NHL is supposedly trying to remove such shenanigans from the playoffs)? Or punching a guy in the face? Or cross-checking a goalie in the head? Add all of those fines up and it's still not equal to what Quenneville received for making himself a laughing stock. I mean, it's not like he punched the ref in the face ... or told him to have another donut.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

5-25-2009 @ 9:35PM

mmusclemadness said...

The ref's suck, but the blackhawks suck more. Besides, is anyone watching anyway?

5-25-2009 @ 9:53PM

otters007 said...

The Blackhawks should direct their attention to playing Hockey and let the officials do what they do best. Q's conduct was unprofessional and set the tone for his player's absense of dedication and focus. When you reach this level in the game, the Champions stand out and the rest go home.

5-26-2009 @ 8:37AM

qongquest said...

quenneville is 99% right, the refs have been bad, period. however he knew that after the refs bad 5 minute major and ejection of kronwall in 3 game that the refs would make amends in game 4. other then that, he is right. hockey headquarters in toronto are hypocrites to have fined quenneville.

the mistake that the blackhawks made in game 4 was they failed to take advantage of the wings since datsyuk and lidstrom were not playing. they are a good young team, not a good experienced team. that was part of the difference. the wings on the other hand, ramped up since datsyuk, draper and lidstrom were not playing. thats what good experienced teams do.

rwing said...

Remember when Quenneville was "coaching" the St. Louis Blues quite a time back. The Red Wings were winning by about 3 or 4 goals. Instead of trying to come back in the game, his team was taking cheap-shots, and trying to pick fights with any Detroit player they could find. Finally Joey Kocur, who if I'm correct, was an assistant coach for the Wings at the time, threw a chair on the ice as if to say enough is enough...either play hockey, or stop the nonsense. So obviously after watching the same crap in game 4, it appears that Quenneville hasn't changed in the least. The Wings were also down 3-0...in game 3 of this series, but they kept their focus...tied the game at 3, and then lost in OT. And that is just one difference between a team of class, and a team without any.

top 10 said...

what happened to the freedom of speech?

5-26-2009 @ 1:34PM

lonewolfpal said...

I have to agree with coach - I have watched all the games this year and the ref's have made some really bad calls; especially in the playoffs - furthermore, I really hate the announcer on the vs channel, it's like they totally are rooting for detroit - the game should be called fairly which it is not, detroit plays dirty just like vancouver did and no calls are made. It sickens me that ref's are so one sided. Call a fair game - coach was fined way too much - then again do we expect any different? Not really!

5-26-2009 @ 2:52PM

ptcoach said...

How could Quenneville have seen anything? He had his head so far up his butt that he couldn't have seen the game. He lost control of his team. His team lost control of their ability to play. In the Bowman era (Scotty and his son), Quenneville's goon mentality will be eliminated as soon as the Hawks are.

5-26-2009 @ 4:00PM

Larry1275 said...

Say what you want about the Refs, they have been the same for years! If a team gets 2 or 3 penalties in a row before the game is over they will even it up. Let's face it the Hawks never showed up on Sunday, they stood around and watched the Wings play the whole game. If they wanted to watch the game they should have bought a ticket! It was by far the worst showing of the entire season!

5-26-2009 @ 8:25PM

plaudenbach said...

Lonewolf, you're full of crap! Yes, the officiating has been abyssmal this year. To the detriment of all. But, no, Versus' announcers are only taking the Wings' side cuz THEY KNOW A WINNER WHEN THEY SEE ONE! When your team has the talent that the Wings do, then they'll be singing your team's praises too. And the only people who think Detroit plays dirty are people who are JEALOUS and wish their team had one tenth the talent Detroit does. The reality is that the Wings are just that much better than everyone else that they make them all look that bad.