CHL in 2012: Fighting, fines & funny tweets

The calendar is about to turn on one of the busiest, most progressive and controversial years in Canadian Hockey League history.

It was more than simply business as usual as two major storylines prevailed in the summer and extended to recent months. There were rumours dating back to 2011 that would see a major change in terms of fighting in major junior, and those reports came true when the Ontario Hockey League stepped up to the plate with a set of rules that would further minimize the so-called “one-dimensional player.”

The Windsor Spitfires and Portland Winterhawks share a distinction surely both would prefer weren’t true with some large and hefty sanctions with regards to player recruitment violations. This story is on-going and these two teams could just be the beginning.

For the second year in a row, 2012 marked a year when a 15-year old was deemed talented and mature enough to thrive in the OHL a year younger than his peers. Connor McDavid is living up to his potential in his first half season and is beginning to do for Erie what John Tavares did for Oshawa at the same age.

There were plenty of highlight-reel moments. One can easily be amused with the bevy of highlight-reel goals by Nathan MacKinnon and teammate Jonathan Drouin, while goaltender Mark Visentin broke a record that was set during World War II.

The power of social media brings us closer to the personalities within the game, and their often-humorous opinions. As Twitter trends, so do some of the comments from players, including a few beauties from Griffin Reinhart.

NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR: Fighting an image

Junior hockey came a long way from bygone eras, when even Memorial Cup games were delayed in starting due to full-scale brawls in warm-ups. Players now respect the red line, and that respect amongst combatants evolved into something altogether different in recent years. With staged fighting on the rise and more players using social media as an outlet to voice their anger, league officials decided to act in response to the hockey rink turning into an amateur boxing ring.

Staged fighting became a hot button topic last season. The league responded with suspensions, including this one to a head coach who denied any wrongdoing.

Prior to the start of the current season, the Ontario Hockey League instituted new guidelines for repeat offenders. The Western Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League each responded with a crackdown on staged fights, though with different rules and procedures than the OHL.

Howere, there is still the notion that fights provide the entertainment that fans crave.

OHL commissioner and CHL president David Branch was non-committal when asked if the new rules were the precursor towards the elimination of fighting altogether. This story is far from over.

Dishonourable mention: Sanctions

The OHL severely punished the Windsor Spitfires with a large fine and the removal of draft picks in August for player recruitment benefits. Sanctions were later reduced when the Spitfires dropped their appeal.

In late November, the Portland Winterhawks were hit even harder with similar sanctions from the WHL. Unlike the Spitfires, the Winterhawks opted for transparency and reported their violations on the team’s web site the same day.

SURPRISE OF THE YEAR: Cardiac Cataractes

The Shawinigan Cataractes did it the hard way and left all their critics in their wake. The MasterCard Memorial Cup hosts were the popular pick to fall flat on their face during the tournament. After being eliminated in the seventh game of the second round in the playoffs, fan morale was at an all-time low and rumours began to surface whether Eric Veilleux, their head coach, would even be behind the bench during the tournament a month later.

Veilleux retained his job, and made it his goal to prove everyone wrong. While the playoff races in the three leagues heated up, Cataractes’ practices did the same. Veilleux basically started over with a training camp-like month of preparation.

There was little reason to believe the Cataractes weren’t out of their element when the tournament opened with a 4-3 loss. In a sportsnet.ca poll prior to the tournament’s start, half of voters said they wouldn’t win a game while a whopping 85 per cent said they would be the first team eliminated.

The Cataractes proved to be the only team in Canada capable of beating the OHL champion London Knights. Their only round-robin win came against London, and they repeated the feat in dramatic fashion with an overtime win over the Knights in the final — this coming in their fourth game in five days after going through the tiebreaker to reach the final.

Their victory, the franchises’ first championship of any kind, obviously sent their fans into frenzy.

It would be a severe understatement to say anyone, besides even the most faithful Cataractes fan, believed this team would reach the pinnacle. Attendance dropped by more than 400 for the tiebreaker after the host team lost to the Saint John Sea Dogs in the final round robin game the night before.

The final was Veilleux’s last game behind the Shawinigan bench. He later resigned and accepted the head coaching job with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.

Honourable mention: Halifax Mooseheads

There’s no greater theatre than junior hockey. The Halifax Mooseheads erased a 3-0 series deficit, and two, two-goal leads by the Remparts in Game 7 to win their second round meeting in overtime. Captain Cameron Critchlow, later dubbed “Clutchlow,” scored all four regulation goals in helping the young team advance to the semifinals.

TWEET OF THE YEAR: Griffin Reinhart

It was an all-Reinhart affair in the opening round of the Western Hockey League playoffs. The Edmonton Oil Kings, with middle brother Griffin, swept the Kootenay Ice, eliminating older brother Max and younger brother Sam’s seasons in the process.

Although there isn’t much separation between Griffin and Sam in age (22 months), Griffin tips the scales 20 pounds heavier and is four inches taller. As a scrum was breaking up, Sam saw Griffin approaching and laid the groundwork for the tweet of the year.

Sam made the same idle threat young brothers everywhere have repeated the world over. It served its purpose — not only did Griffin lay off his baby brother, he laughed as he skated back to the Oil Kings bench.

Griffin would have the last laugh, and many more for the tweet of the year in the wee hour of the morning following his team’s Game 4 victory. The Oil Kings would capture the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions later that spring, following in the footsteps of his brothers who did so the year before in Kootenay.

Honourable mention:

No description necessary …

RANT OF THE YEAR: What indiscipline?

Former Saint John Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant opened up his wallet after his tirade against the officiating resulted in a $500 fine at the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup. His team had just lost their opening game 5-3 to the eventual runners-up from London, with his star player, Jonathan Huberdeau, sitting in the penalty box for a call he disagreed with.

Huberdeau, who got away with only a minor for elbowing on a hit that could have resulted in a suspension, jostled with Knights forward Ryan Rupert as he was heading towards the bench. Huberdeau got four minutes in penalties, and Gallant took another when he berated officials from the door opening of the bench.

Gallant couldn’t bite his lip when asked about his team’s lack of discipline in the post-game press conference.

“I watched the penalties. Our discipline — I’ve been complaining all year. I’ve been in the Quebec league for three years and I’ve been complaining for three years that we always get the short end of the stick and I’m tired of it. I really am,” he said.

“You show your frustration at the end of the game; I don’t want to do that. But it’s been over and over and over again so I’m tired of it. That’s not just from tonight’s game; it’s been all playoffs long too … You can check the numbers.”

Honourable mention: Knights-Rangers rivalry heats up

After being called a “trap coach” by London head coach Dale Hunter, Rangers head coach Steve Spott was asked about his players passing the puck amongst themselves in their own zone instead of skating into the Knights’ passive forecheck in the neutral zone. Fans in London booed and the play was later called.

In true Rangers-Knights rivalry fashion, Spott turned the tables when asked about it: “I guess my question is who’s the crowd booing — which team?”

GOAL OF THE YEAR: Nathan MacKinnon

Nathan MacKinnon made plenty of highlight reels in his first season of major junior, but perhaps none prettier than his first Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff goal. MacKinnon spun away from Moncton defenceman James Melindy at the half wall, and cradled the goal line as he danced around another sprawled out defender before tucking the puck in the far post.

The Halifax Mooseheads’ scoring sensation would add another in his first playoff game, and would later set a franchise record for playoff goals with 13. He was especially rough on his Maritimes opponent, adding two more highlight-reel goals to his list of accomplishments in the same series against Moncton.

The potential first-overall pick in the next NHL Draft sometimes makes it look easy and there’s little doubt he will get NHL fans out of their seats the same way he already does for his home crowd in Halifax.

Honourable mention: Blazers torch Americans

Winning goal at the 1:50 mark …

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