Conboy And Tropp Should Be Gone, Period

Unless the penalties are severe, this will continue to escalate. I don't think anyone wants that.

Also, black shirt/shiny white tie combo? Corey, the Regis Philbin look is so 2001.

I wrote to MSU's Coach Rick Comley (hockey@msu.edu) to tell him how outraged I am that the players received such light punishment. Also write to the Athletic Director at (ad@ath.msu.edu) to tell him that the coach should be fired and players expelled. Might not do much but it couldn't hurt.

I coach Pee Wee hockey (11 and 12 year olds) and any player in our league would be GONE from the league forever if they did what Tropp did. I think if the Pee Wee league can get it right then a league where strong adults can do far more damage can get it right.

Tom Anastos, the CCHA commissioner who will review this case, was a four-year letter winner at Michigan State.

This was far worse than a fight and even the NHL is having second thoughts about fighting:

"The impetus for change came when Ontario senior men's league player Don Sanderson fell into a coma after striking his head on the ice during a fight and later died. It was further reinforced on Friday night when AHLer Garrett Klotz suffered a seizure and was taken from the ice on a stretcher after a fight."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQdz7eqb3x8

Think about it . . . because he is the commissioner, and an MSU hockey alumni, there is extreme pressure on Anastos to do the right thing. Maybe he'll be even more severe than if he had no connection to the players whatsoever. By analogy, some coaches expect more of their own sons than they do of others on a sports team. When you have a connection, you feel extreme pressure to act especially fairly, and not to appear as if you favor someone.

Really, the best thing would be for Anastos to excuse himself from ruling, because of the appearance that he cannot be fair and impartial, but only a Sparty homer. If the reverse were true (either a UM player assaulting a State player, or a UM commissioner judging on the current case), it would again be an untenable situation.

Are the real criminals going to face charges? The ones that assaulted Steve Kampfer and slashed an unconscious man's neck with a weapon? Wheres the DA on that. Tropp's was a felony and Conboy's was a misdemeanor. I'll be happy when they spend a few months in prison.

I think fighting needs to be a part of hockey at the Pro level, but not at the college level. Fighting in hockey is a necessary part of the game insomuch as the players know if they cross the unwritten code , then they are subject to a beatdown. In all of the thousands and thousands of fights in hockey, we have a couple instances where guys have been seriously hurt and ther careers ruined because of a fight, but how many people would be seriously hurt if there was no fear of retribution? If there is the fear of getting your butt kicked if you act like a total goon (think the two MSU players) then you're seriously going to think twice before committing such acts. I know I would never take a run at Ovechkin with Donald Brashear in the building, but if that threat wasn't there then you're relying on my own ideals of sportsmanship and my integrity, which can be a dicey proposition for some players (insert MSU player here).

I remember years ago, when Gary Bettman was doing his best to ruin hockey and the league clamped down on fighting and I can cleary recall a major jump in the number of cheap shots and Busch League tatics during those years. The referees are, for the most part, reactionary to these cheap shots and of course they penalize the player after the fact, but that did nothing to curb the number of incidents I was seeing. Granted, I, personally, am more likely to root for a guy like Bob Probert than I am a guy like Alexander Semin, so that has to be taken into account of my perspective on the subject. With that being said, I love a good hockey fight between two enforcers and I love it even more when someone who breaks the "code" gets an ass whooping for it.

As for college, fighting has no place in the college game as the kids are not all at the same level of physical maturity, the rink is much larger, and it's a league that needs to be focused on developing the skills of the players. In instances like Saturday night, there can be nothing less than the most extreme punishment to set the example that actions like that have no place for that in college hockey and those who commit such acts also do not have a place in college hockey. These are not multi-millionaire professional athletes and the various leagues should do all they can to prevent things like this from happening. The first part of that is crack down on the officials for letting a clean, hard-hitting game get out of control, even in a rivalry game. There has to be limits and there has to be accountablity for the players and the coaches.

Fighting has stopped more serious injuries from occuring that it has caused. The incident Saturday night does not really speak to the issue of fighting as it goes against every ideal of sportsmanship and respect for your opponent that I have ever heard of; what those two goons did was assualt a player, which is a hell of a lot different that two willing combatants engaging in a fight.

The penalties must be harsh. This is something that cannot happen again.

That said, booting both from the league permanently seems a bit much. Tropp should definitely be gone for the rest of this season at minimum - and if he does come back at all, it should (obviously) be with the understanding that there is no third chance. Any sort of fighting beyond the usual pushing and shoving, and he's gone for good.

I don't have the context for Conboy's other actions during the game, but I'm not sure the "pattern of misbehavior" exists. He has one misconduct on the season and no majors. (Then again, what happened on Saturday should have added to both of those totals, so it's possible that the refs have just not been calling it this year.) He obviously needs to be suspended for at least a few games, but unless the incident was significantly worse than it looked to me on video (certainly possible, as neither of the angles I saw was particularly clear) that should be enough.

October 17, 2000

Boston Bruins' defenceman Marty McSorley was found guilty on October 6 of assault with a weapon for slashing Vancouver Canuck Donald Brashear in the head with a hockey stick.

In rough sports, the Supreme Court stated, players impliedly consent to intentional applications of force that are within the customary norms and rules of the game. But they cannot validly consent to serious violence that clearly extends beyond the ordinary norms of conduct.

In addition, the judge observed, the referees and linesmen set guidelines for permissible violence in the way they choose to assess penalties during a game.

I only saw the youtube clip that Brian posted, so I couldn't really see what happened that well. I thought, however, that the behavior of the Spartan hockey players was not nearly as egregious as the the incident a few years ago where the OSU linebacker Robert Reynolds was choking the Wisconsin quarterback in the pile. IIRC, he was suspended for one game by OSU and nothing additional by the Big Ten or the NCAA. So, I don't expect much here.

Where was Yost security after the game? The MSU players/lockerroom should have been sealed off to avoid an ugly incident. Although it was just Kampfer's dad that got in, it could have been Artest-level ugly if anyone else would have gotten in. I don't blame the dad at all for what he did, I blame UM/Yost for letting him get in.

Not that we need to see this again but I'm posting what I think is the best quality clip I've seen so far for those that have not seen it yet. Make sure you watch it in high quality, there is a link in the lower right of the video play controls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI-sYE1DsMs&eurl=http://www.freep.com/art...

Well, can you name 1 incident where a legal check, etc. killed a hockey player?

Bill Masterson in 1967. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Masterton

Although he was not wearing a helmet

How can this not be a crime?

Granted, I'm not a regular hockey fan, so I don't know the level of violence usually observed in the sport.

Well, I can tell you that Spartan fans support your efforts to get Rick Comley fired.

So, there is talk about prosecuting Kampfer's dad, but NO TALK ABOUT PROSECUTING TROPP????!!!

I sent an email to the Ann Arbor Police tip line asking them to investigate Tropp's hack. The sucker punch was disgusting, but not a crime within the context of hockey. AFAIC, though, the hack was assault with a deadly weapon and Tropp should be prosecuted.

Maybe if enough people email the crime tip line asking for an investigation, they will actually do something about it.

Henry Boucher of the North Stars was attacked by Dave Forbes of the Bruins with a stick and lost an eye.

As I told my kids when there were like 9 or 10:

When you are doing something you are supposed to be doing and something bad happens -- that is an accident.

When you are doing something you have been told not to do and something bad happens -- that is not an accident.

In this case, it is no accident and it is a crime.

BTW, I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the concept that fighting in hockey is more important to some people than the life of a human being.

If you think that what Tropp did constitutes assault with a deadly weapon or felonious assault, please take the opportunity to make yourself heard. Here is the address of the prosecuting attorney of Washtenaw County.

prosecutormackie@ewashtenaw.org

I have left messages here and at the Ann Arbor Police's crime tip line.

I am pissed at Conboy; what he did was dirty and fucked up, but it didn't constitute anything criminal within the context of a hockey game. His season-long suspension is OK in my book.

But Tropp's behavior should be criminal under any context except professional wrestiling. But even in pro wrestling, the "victim" consents to being "attacked." I sincerely doubt that Kampfer consented to being hacked in the back of the neck/head while he was laying helpless on the ice.

Tropp should be in jail for so long that any suspension becomes a moot point. Let him attack people in jail where they fight back. I have a feeling that Tropp would find jail; where a lot of people are a lot bigger than he is, he doesn't get a stick, and nobody is on skates; is a different environment than a hockey game.

It's a start. Now hopefully Tropp at least will have plenty of time to make his court dates

http://www.freep.com/article/20090126/SPORTS06/90126057/MSU+hockey+playe...

Mlive is saying that the two are suspended for the rest of the season, with no further penalties coming from the CCHA.

Couldn't agree more. Penalties must be severe or else future games could be horrific. Not sure how any other fellow Spartan fans can defend them. Thankful to see Kampfer relatively okay.