MAJOR JUNIOR HOCKEY COMPLICIT IN DOWNIE'S LATEST 'MONSTER PERFORMANCE'

Via Marc Foster's Junior Hockey Blog comes a link to a fry-an-egg-on-the-newspage editorial from the Kitchener-Waterloo Record savaging the Ontario Hockey League for letting the hometown Rangers "buy back" Steve Downie's eligibility after he received a two-game ban for a check from behind last weekend.

Granted, Steve Downie getting suspended for general dickishness ranks with an Ed Belfour drunk-in-public arrest when it comes to sports stories which underwhelm one's shock absorbers. Anyway, the Rangers had $4.14 million Cdn in revenues this year. The cost of getting Downie out of the pokey? Five hundred bucks -- which is laughably low.

"... it's impossible to see how such a featherweight fine will deter Downie or any other hothead from starting a fight -- and possibly badly injuring someone else -- in the future. On the contrary, it teaches young and impressionable players the very dangerous lesson that with money, even a little money, you can buy your way out of trouble."

Man, oh man, when newspapers start writing that with regard to the hometown team during the playoffs, it suggests something about where major junior hockey stands in public esteem. There's more money and media exposure in the OHL than ever before, but many people run the other way thanks to a perceived dinosaur mentality.

The hockey establishment let Downie skate on the hazing scandal that happened when he was captain in Windsor in 2005-06. It made an idol out of him at the world junior championship that year -- and after the tournament, reporters in Peterborough, where he was traded from Windsor, blamed opponents for goading him when he started getting misconducts every other game after the 2006 WJC. At every step, it's told him whatever he does is OK.

Downie, who's 20, will be turning pro next season. One can only hope that some poor bastard isn't going to end up with a permanent reminder of one of his "monster performances."

Downie should not be playing, but the upshot is Kitchener is now down 3-0 to the Plymouth Whalers and is one loss from elimination. By the way, Akim Aliu, the then-rookie associated with that Windsor scandal, is now with the Sudbury Wolves, who are one win away from reaching the OHL semi-final. Funny how that's worked out, although as Chris Young said when the Windsor situation blew up, "there are no saints to be found in this whole mess."

Previous Steve Downie-related posts

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.