Phil Margonis
03-31-2008, 08:19 PM
http://tsn.ca/chl/news_story/?ID=233225&hubname=
David Branch would have been a lot tougher if the decision to suspend Patrick and Jonathan Roy was up to him.
The Canadian Hockey League president and Ontario Hockey League commissioner offered his thoughts on the recent on-ice controversy surrounding the QMJHL's Quebec Remparts on TSN's Off The Record Monday, saying the seven-game punishment for Jonathan Roy wasn't enough.
"I thought it was far too light," he told TSN's Michael Landsberg. "It was so offensive and that's what we need to get out of our game. I think a strong punishment can act as a deterrent and other ways and means to address it. Seven games, to me, didn't send a strong enough message."
Branch, who has no jurisdiction over punishments handed down in the WHL or QMJHL, offered the same opinion regarding Patrick Roy's five-game suspension. But he also understood other factors that QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau had to deal with.
"I thought all the way around, there should have been a stronger statement made," he explained. "In fairness to Gilles Courteau, he was under extreme pressure. I thought his leadership and his strength was outstanding."
Earlier this month, the elder Roy sent Jonathan to pummel Chicoutimi netminder Bobby Nadeau in a brawl late in the second period of a playoff game between the Remparts and Chicoutimi Sagueneens. The younger Roy skated towards the opposing netminder and landed a series of punches without any retaliation, then saluted the opposing fans with the middle finger before starting another fight with defenceman Sebastien Rioux.
Jonathan Roy apologized two days later for flipping the bird to the crowd and was also fined $500 by the league. Patrick Roy apologized to Nadeau and his family, to the Remparts organization and his son before his suspension was handed down.
The incident as a whole left Branch feeling disturbed to say the least.
"You knew what was going to happen, in part, in terms of the focus it would bring to the game," he told TSN. "People say, 'We need to eliminate fighting', and that's an important issue. But I don't view that as a fight. That wasn't a fight. That was a mugging, that was bullying. That's what we've got to get out of our game."
David Branch would have been a lot tougher if the decision to suspend Patrick and Jonathan Roy was up to him.
The Canadian Hockey League president and Ontario Hockey League commissioner offered his thoughts on the recent on-ice controversy surrounding the QMJHL's Quebec Remparts on TSN's Off The Record Monday, saying the seven-game punishment for Jonathan Roy wasn't enough.
"I thought it was far too light," he told TSN's Michael Landsberg. "It was so offensive and that's what we need to get out of our game. I think a strong punishment can act as a deterrent and other ways and means to address it. Seven games, to me, didn't send a strong enough message."
Branch, who has no jurisdiction over punishments handed down in the WHL or QMJHL, offered the same opinion regarding Patrick Roy's five-game suspension. But he also understood other factors that QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau had to deal with.
"I thought all the way around, there should have been a stronger statement made," he explained. "In fairness to Gilles Courteau, he was under extreme pressure. I thought his leadership and his strength was outstanding."
Earlier this month, the elder Roy sent Jonathan to pummel Chicoutimi netminder Bobby Nadeau in a brawl late in the second period of a playoff game between the Remparts and Chicoutimi Sagueneens. The younger Roy skated towards the opposing netminder and landed a series of punches without any retaliation, then saluted the opposing fans with the middle finger before starting another fight with defenceman Sebastien Rioux.
Jonathan Roy apologized two days later for flipping the bird to the crowd and was also fined $500 by the league. Patrick Roy apologized to Nadeau and his family, to the Remparts organization and his son before his suspension was handed down.
The incident as a whole left Branch feeling disturbed to say the least.
"You knew what was going to happen, in part, in terms of the focus it would bring to the game," he told TSN. "People say, 'We need to eliminate fighting', and that's an important issue. But I don't view that as a fight. That wasn't a fight. That was a mugging, that was bullying. That's what we've got to get out of our game."