This washed-up NHL enforcer doesn't think I should have a job

[freebuddy]

This washed-up NHL enforcer doesn't think I should have a job

By Brett Cyrgalis

November 14, 2014

Krys Barch picks up the phone and is startled.

Oh yeah, he says to me on Thursday night. I figured this was coming. No, no, no, Im happy to talk.

Barch was once a hockey player, in some now-hardly-recognizable form. He had 35 points in 381 career NHL games, 22 of them with the Devils in 2012-13. In those games, he also had 812 penalty minutes, most of which were accrued punching other people in the face, or looking for a fight.

He is now 34 years old and retired presumably involuntarily. He joined Twitter, and likes to rile people up. But this one . . . well, this one got me. So I called him.

I wanted to throw something back at them, he said, laughing, and I dont think a lot of them liked it.

Them, in this instance, includes me. Barch had taken a shot at hockey writers, using all 140 characters to rekindle an age-old argument.

Heres his tweet from Nov. 12:

Theres no way to win the majority of public opinion on this one. Agree, you look like a rock-headed jock. Disagree, you look like a whiny writer. Both of those stereotypes exist for good reason.

Yet Barch, who is not rock-headed and was rather articulate in contrast, I can be rather whiny did not back down from his statement. He seemed to take joy in people reacting to what he said, because its something he, and so many other fans and athletes, so foolhardily believe in.

A lot of the people that are writing this stuff dont know the emotion and the intricacies of the sport, he said. Theyve watched a lot of hockey, but did they grow up with the culture of hockey? Ive been playing since I was 3 years old, and I dont think you can really understand all the nuances of the game without having played at a high level.

He then said, that is not a blanket statement for all writers, and instead singled out two prominent columnists: Damien Cox, formerly of the Toronto Star and now writing and broadcasting for Sportsnet in Canada, and James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail, Canadas version of USA Today. Both have been outspoken against fighting in hockey.

Theyre so negative about the physical side of the game, Barch said. How can there be two sides to this argument and theyre so lopsided to one side?

But Krys, doesnt that sound like sour grapes coming from a guy who no longer has a place in the league?

I dont care, he said. I was lucky to play the game for as long as I have. I love the game of hockey, and the physical aspect has always been a part of it and always should be. There will be a day when theres no hitting, and thats sad.

Its not sad that this is the way the game has naturally progressed. Only last week, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault had this to say about fighting in the game, referring to a scrap between his young heavyweight, Dylan McIlrath, and his counterpart on the Blues, Ryan Reaves:

That type of fighting, where I think both players are trying to get their teams going . . . ahhh, I dont know in todays game how much of an impact it has, Vigneault said. I do know that it takes a lot of courage to do that. Im still if there is some banging going on, and two guys turn around and they say, Lets go, Ive got nothing against that.

What Dylan did yesterday, and Reaves, and its something that takes balls to do that. But I dont know how much room is left in the game for that right now.

When you hear something like that, from one of the most highly regarded coaches in the league, its pretty clear the single-minded enforcer the type of player Barch was is quickly on its way to extinction.

Of his species, Barch was one of the weakest in other areas that might have allowed him to survive this cultural purging. And hes looking for someone to blame thats not himself, or the league, so he turns to the media. But this is a lowbrow and petty route.

Cox and Mirtle, to use Barchs example, have spent years traveling, talking to people at the highest levels of hockey, and forming their own opinions through educating themselves. Those opinions then come out passionately. You can bring all sorts of analogies in here and to look at the responses Barch got to his tweet, you will. I think: Did Roger Angell play big-league baseball? Did Herbert Warren Wind ever play better than bogey golf? Did David Halberstam play in the NBA? For that matter, did Gay Talese join the mob, Truman Capote kill someone, Tom Wolfe actually drop acid? (OK, fine, forget that last one.)

The fact is, if a writer has a background in his subject, it can help. But to say you have to have participated in something to really understand it has been proven false over and over again. Barch sadly doesnt know that, or at least doesnt care.

My hockey career is over and Im OK with that, Barch said. But this was for the 25-year-old guy who might be able to play another seven years. These [writers] have a voice, and a powerful voice.

So do you, Krys. In this age of Twitter, no one can stop you from voicing your opinion even if you dont know the nuances of how to do it.

http://nypost.com/2014/11/14/this-washed-up-nhl-enforcer-doesnt-think-i-should-have-a-job/

[canuktravella]

i agree with barch. fighting and hitting have a spot in hockey always will and always have. Anyone whos plaued hockey knows this it levels the playing field reducing cheap shots, spears, hits from behind. if you take out the physicality in hockey you may as well not play at all. i for one hate all the political correct bullshit society we have to live in these days everyones tip toeing atound because whiny losers are all sensitive. Only thing i dont like is staged fights the league doesnt need that at all we arent a wwe wrestling league. but a fair clean fight shoukd be ok.

[Dazzle]

i agree with barch. fighting and hitting have a spot in hockey always will and always have. Anyone whos plaued hockey knows this it levels the playing field reducing cheap shots, spears, hits from behind. if you take out the physicality in hockey you may as well not play at all. i for one hate all the political correct bull society we have to live in these days everyones tip toeing atound because whiny losers are all sensitive. Only thing i dont like is staged fights the league doesnt need that at all we arent a wwe wrestling league. but a fair clean fight shoukd be ok.

I agree.

Fighting should always be part of the game, but it should be something of a sideshow rather than the main event.

The League is watching the games yet they don't make the right decisions that are so obviously wrong. It's not just the no-goal by Hanzal. Numerous "dirty plays" have been ignored. It seems that they've been better at watching them now this season, but not last season.

Also, this writer engages nothing about Barch's arguments. He goes right into the personal aspects of the ex-player. This is journalism?

This is garbage writing, with a lack of ethics.

[terrible.dee]

i agree with barch. fighting and hitting have a spot in hockey always will and always have. Anyone whos plaued hockey knows this it levels the playing field reducing cheap shots, spears, hits from behind. if you take out the physicality in hockey you may as well not play at all. i for one hate all the political correct bull society we have to live in these days everyones tip toeing atound because whiny losers are all sensitive. Only thing i dont like is staged fights the league doesnt need that at all we arent a wwe wrestling league. but a fair clean fight shoukd be ok.

As I've said many times: So many problems could be solved by allowing fights to serve the purpose for which they were intended.

All fighting connected directly to a hockey play (Refs discretion) should be 2 for each combatant, even if one guy turtles. How many cheap shots do you think we would see if this were the case? No instigator.

Staged fights? Give them a delay of game penalty, but if they want to go let em'

"Bullying" type fights? Where a player is attacked for no discernible reason? (Think Ray Emery and Holtby last year) Match penalty, throw em' out of the game.

There isn't fighting and hockey, one is part of the other and there is no separating the two without leaving the product unrecognizable. I am already starting to wonder whether the NHL in 5 years will be something I want to put my dollars into.

I don't like MLS, the NBA, and baseball is a game you play, not a game you watch (The NFL is ok) the NHL was the one and only sport league I have followed religiously, whether that continues or not is currently in question.

[hatedkid666]

They should ban fighting on twitter

[Gross-Misconduct]

That is one convoluted article. I gave up half way through.

[Mustapha]

The title of the article is somewhat insulting, but considering the article drones on and on before painfully getting to the point, it doesn't look like Brett Cyrgalis is much of a writer.

The NHL is a business first and foremost, so they want to reduce their potential liability as much as possible. Fights and big hits increase the possibility of injury, and considering that fighting is 'officially' not allowed in the NHL (there is a 5 minute penalty for participating) one could argue in a court that the NHL showed negligence by allowing 'goons' in the game.

I personally hate the direction the league is going. The physicality and emotion that hockey has is unique to the sport, there is no other sport quite like it. Like all good things however, that too will come to an end.

Give it another twenty years and you will see mindless puck possession battles and half-hearted scoring celebrations. The players, walls, ceiling and people's brains will be plastered with excessive corporate advertising and I will be thinking more about all the lovely products and services I could purchase instead of the actual entertainment.

The NHL is one clown short of being an entire circus. Actually, I was wrong there. McDonald's is a corporate sponsor, so Ronald could fill that role.

[Aladeen]

I too agree with Barch, let the players decide if they want to keep fighting or not, they are the ones affected by it. Since the Majority of players I have heard speak on the issue are pro-fighting, I say keep it.

The journalist is a hack who wants to belittle a decent NHL career because the guy didn't score a ppg. He had his role and I bet if you talk to some of Barch's team mates I bet they were glad to have him out there in the trenches for them.

Maybe fighting is going the way of the dodo but it shouldn't be for journalists, who may have never even played the game, to decide.

[CanuckFan1981]

I agree with Barch and think hockey is a tough game and should stay that way. However, I find his last argument stupid about the 25 year old kid that might have another 7 years of pro hockey if he is allowed to fight. Isn't the 25 year old big and tough kid taking a job away from another 25 year old small speedster? There are only 700 NHL jobs available, regardless of whether they get filled by Mason Raymond's or Tom Sestito's... I like the NHL to be a mix of size, speed and skill and don't want to see it evolve into only big kids and phenoms can make it (the way it has been) or the way it could evolve into only small fast guys can make it.

I do agree with Barch about the writers in general. I appreciate that although the writers may not have ever played at the highest levels, they are educated enough to make well informed opinions. To me it seems the issue is that writers get their voices heard, and retired players like Barch do not, unless they call out the writers... Neither opinion is wrong, they are just opinions. But I agree with Barch, it seems like the writers who have not played get the loudest voice. Conversely the players are ignorant to act like the writers have no business writing or commenting about it even though they have been following it closely, researching it and speaking to people in the highest levels of the game. This article is just a small time writer squabbling with a retired no-name hockey player about a difference of opinion, which neither can be right.... moving along....

[Sir Lord Baltimore]

i agree with barch. fighting and hitting have a spot in hockey always will and always have. Anyone whos plaued hockey knows this it levels the playing field reducing cheap shots, spears, hits from behind. if you take out the physicality in hockey you may as well not play at all. i for one hate all the political correct bull society we have to live in these days everyones tip toeing atound because whiny losers are all sensitive. Only thing i dont like is staged fights the league doesnt need that at all we arent a wwe wrestling league. but a fair clean fight shoukd be ok.

I couldn't agree more.

[stawns]

i agree with barch. fighting and hitting have a spot in hockey always will and always have. Anyone whos plaued hockey knows this it levels the playing field reducing cheap shots, spears, hits from behind. if you take out the physicality in hockey you may as well not play at all. i for one hate all the political correct bull society we have to live in these days everyones tip toeing atound because whiny losers are all sensitive. Only thing i dont like is staged fights the league doesnt need that at all we arent a wwe wrestling league. but a fair clean fight shoukd be ok.

I fought my way through the BCHL and WHL as a kid, but never a staged, pre-meditated fight, always within the context of the game. Were there nights I would be looking for a fight before the end of the game? Of course, but only if fell within the ebb and flow of the game itself.

I really don't see the point of having a guy who's only job is to fight another guy who's only job is to fight. If you can't play the game at the level you're at, you shouldn't be taking a roster spot.