Hockey is a game of emotion.
Imagine the emotion involved in accidental death and multiple that by the horror of losing a beautiful young person at a hockey game. I cannot. As a fan of hockey the sanctuary that is my favorite venue would be shattered by such an event. As a father/mother or for that matter brother/sister my love for the game would be challenged.
The Columbus Blue Jackets in only their second season as members of the National Hockey League suffered such a setback. For the first time in the then eighty five year history of the league a fan fatality had occurred during a NHL game. In the minor leagues three such events have happened yet these tragedies did little to prevent the shock of losing Brittanie Cecil a thirteen year old grade eight student attending her first NHL game, tickets given as a fourteenth birthday gift. The cheerleader suffered blood clots to a neck artery as a result of a puck shot into the stands which hit her in the temple careening into two other spectators before ending in the hands of a five year old child.
I do not intend to discuss the anguish associated with this event nor the legal fallout save that the parents of Brittanie eventually received a one point two million dollar settlement from the NHL and other groups involved, namely the owners and member partners in the presentation of games at the Nationwide Arena.
When assigned this topic here at the Blog Championship Series my initial reaction was one of trepidation. How does one find something to write about an expansion team which has never made the playoffs let alone earned a positive place in professional hockey history? Sure there have been great hockey people involved such as Doug Mclean, and Rick Wamsley, even great players such as Kevin Dineen, Serge Aubin and today’s phenomenon , Rick Nash . Yet the franchise struggles to assert its mark on the game.
Conceived as an experiment in marketing the expansion Jackets have been up against it from the get go. Directed at a demographic weaned on baseball, basketball and football the NHL and Gary Bettman gambled on acceptance by the major media to aid in their campaign of hockey education. It never came. Now, sporting a less than attractive track record the Blue Jackets toil to fill their seats and are the subject of many ‘why did they do that’ reflections. I do not intend to talk about this aspect of the Insects floundering history either, rather the up side to the tragic event that I feel may have been Columbus’s early undoing.
As one can well imagine hockey people in general were collectively touched and concerned. Miss Cecil’s demise was after all directly related to a key function of the game, entertainment. Although specific alterations had been made to glass height and seating configurations the league and facility directors alike had not drastically altered the sight lines nor were they compelled by law to take any action they had not already instituted. The previous fatalities at the minor league level had in the courts bore out the leagues assertion that posting information of the potential dangers inherent with being a spectator was sufficient. The premise being that fans of sport generally know they could be injured, which absolves the arenas of responsibility in such matters. ''The spectator assumes known risks inherent in the sport,'' said David W. Leebron, the dean of Columbia Law School and a specialist in tort law. ''Generally speaking, a hockey puck or baseball that might leave the stadium or the rink and hurt someone is a known and inherent risk, even if it's somewhat unusual.''
Fortunately, except for a few isolated incidents, hockey need only be concerned with keeping the game out of the stands and not the other way around. There was the Mike Milbury incident in 1979 at Madison Square Garden when he took a fans shoe off and proceeded to beat him with it or even the 2001 Domi fiasco in Philly when Tie happily laid a smack down on a fan that fell into the penalty cage with him. Yet compared to baseball or basketball the NHL is relatively free of spectator invasions. So it followed that the National Hockey League, if I may borrow a term from baseball, stepped up to the plate and in the process the Columbus Blue Jackets garnered the infamous distinction of hosting the event that prompted them to take action.
The National Hockey League ordered safety netting installed at each end of NHL arenas after a 13-year-old girl was killed by a deflected puck at a Columbus Blue Jackets game in 2002.
From a legal stand point this is a significant change to the leagues position. By installing these safety nets they acknowledge the danger of injury and their part, making them complicit in any further cases. But most importantly their initiative settling with the Cecil’s coupled with this voluntary safety measure demonstrates a community responsibility to the great fans of hockey who deserve to be protected at all times!
I would like to close this blog with an endorsement of the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey team. Although I still maintain that the NHL was hasty in its decision to expand the number of teams in its league I am not one of those who would propose contraction as a solution at this juncture. I think that the deed being a done deal we must as a community of fans get behind all the teams and work towards a healthy environment that will lead to a vibrant league. That is our only hope of survival as a major sport.
This re posting is inspired by a reference made at The Grinder to March 16 being the Anniversary of Miss Brittanie Cecil's passing and the Legacy she left us.
Imagine the emotion involved in accidental death and multiple that by the horror of losing a beautiful young person at a hockey game. I cannot. As a fan of hockey the sanctuary that is my favorite venue would be shattered by such an event. As a father/mother or for that matter brother/sister my love for the game would be challenged.
The Columbus Blue Jackets in only their second season as members of the National Hockey League suffered such a setback. For the first time in the then eighty five year history of the league a fan fatality had occurred during a NHL game. In the minor leagues three such events have happened yet these tragedies did little to prevent the shock of losing Brittanie Cecil a thirteen year old grade eight student attending her first NHL game, tickets given as a fourteenth birthday gift. The cheerleader suffered blood clots to a neck artery as a result of a puck shot into the stands which hit her in the temple careening into two other spectators before ending in the hands of a five year old child.
I do not intend to discuss the anguish associated with this event nor the legal fallout save that the parents of Brittanie eventually received a one point two million dollar settlement from the NHL and other groups involved, namely the owners and member partners in the presentation of games at the Nationwide Arena.
When assigned this topic here at the Blog Championship Series my initial reaction was one of trepidation. How does one find something to write about an expansion team which has never made the playoffs let alone earned a positive place in professional hockey history? Sure there have been great hockey people involved such as Doug Mclean, and Rick Wamsley, even great players such as Kevin Dineen, Serge Aubin and today’s phenomenon , Rick Nash . Yet the franchise struggles to assert its mark on the game.
Conceived as an experiment in marketing the expansion Jackets have been up against it from the get go. Directed at a demographic weaned on baseball, basketball and football the NHL and Gary Bettman gambled on acceptance by the major media to aid in their campaign of hockey education. It never came. Now, sporting a less than attractive track record the Blue Jackets toil to fill their seats and are the subject of many ‘why did they do that’ reflections. I do not intend to talk about this aspect of the Insects floundering history either, rather the up side to the tragic event that I feel may have been Columbus’s early undoing.
As one can well imagine hockey people in general were collectively touched and concerned. Miss Cecil’s demise was after all directly related to a key function of the game, entertainment. Although specific alterations had been made to glass height and seating configurations the league and facility directors alike had not drastically altered the sight lines nor were they compelled by law to take any action they had not already instituted. The previous fatalities at the minor league level had in the courts bore out the leagues assertion that posting information of the potential dangers inherent with being a spectator was sufficient. The premise being that fans of sport generally know they could be injured, which absolves the arenas of responsibility in such matters. ''The spectator assumes known risks inherent in the sport,'' said David W. Leebron, the dean of Columbia Law School and a specialist in tort law. ''Generally speaking, a hockey puck or baseball that might leave the stadium or the rink and hurt someone is a known and inherent risk, even if it's somewhat unusual.''
Fortunately, except for a few isolated incidents, hockey need only be concerned with keeping the game out of the stands and not the other way around. There was the Mike Milbury incident in 1979 at Madison Square Garden when he took a fans shoe off and proceeded to beat him with it or even the 2001 Domi fiasco in Philly when Tie happily laid a smack down on a fan that fell into the penalty cage with him. Yet compared to baseball or basketball the NHL is relatively free of spectator invasions. So it followed that the National Hockey League, if I may borrow a term from baseball, stepped up to the plate and in the process the Columbus Blue Jackets garnered the infamous distinction of hosting the event that prompted them to take action.
The National Hockey League ordered safety netting installed at each end of NHL arenas after a 13-year-old girl was killed by a deflected puck at a Columbus Blue Jackets game in 2002.
From a legal stand point this is a significant change to the leagues position. By installing these safety nets they acknowledge the danger of injury and their part, making them complicit in any further cases. But most importantly their initiative settling with the Cecil’s coupled with this voluntary safety measure demonstrates a community responsibility to the great fans of hockey who deserve to be protected at all times!
I would like to close this blog with an endorsement of the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey team. Although I still maintain that the NHL was hasty in its decision to expand the number of teams in its league I am not one of those who would propose contraction as a solution at this juncture. I think that the deed being a done deal we must as a community of fans get behind all the teams and work towards a healthy environment that will lead to a vibrant league. That is our only hope of survival as a major sport.
This re posting is inspired by a reference made at The Grinder to March 16 being the Anniversary of Miss Brittanie Cecil's passing and the Legacy she left us.
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