Vancouver Canucks head coach John Tortorella is in hot water with the NHL after getting in an altercation outside the Flames dressing room after the first period on Saturday night.
The game got off to a wild start as both teams engaged in a brawl just seconds into the first period.
Ten players were handed misconducts and 150 penalty minutes were assessed to both sides in the first five minutes of the game.
Tortorella could be seen yelling at the Flames bench and coach Bob Hartley following the skirmish.
At the end of the first period, Tortorella was caught on camera in an altercation outside the Flames dressing room as he attempted to confront the team.
On Monday, Tortorella had an in-person hearing in New York with the NHL and later in the day was handed a 15 day (six game) suspension without pay.
"Mr. Tortorella's actions in attempting to enter the Calgary Flames locker room after the first period were both dangerous and an embarrassment to the League," said NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell on the NHL's website. "Coaches in the NHL bear the responsibility of providing leadership, even when emotions run high, and Mr. Tortorella failed in his responsibility to the game."
Hartley was fined $25,000 for his part in the incident.
"We are holding Mr. Hartley responsible for the actions of Flames' right wing Kevin Westgarth, who took the game's opening face-off and attempted to instigate a premeditated fight with an unwilling opponent -- the Canucks' Kevin Bieksa," said Campbell.
Scott Atkinson from the Edge School has been coaching hockey for years and says the bench has a certain level of responsibility for what happens on the ice.
“I think that you have to be sending the right messages. I don’t think you’re ever in total control. I think that the emotions run high and people act out of character so I don’t think you can hold a coach totally responsible but generally speaking I think that they are responsible,” said Atkinson.
He says he can see how things might have gotten out of hand on Saturday night.
“I know that those two coaches don’t like each other so maybe there’s a little bit of baiting there going on and gamesmanship, that kind of thing, and I do think that probably both teams are trying to change their perception and change how people think about them and how hard they play so maybe it’s one of those things where a little bit of a challenge got blown out of proportion and you sort of up the anti little by little and all of a sudden you have something that’s gotten out of control,” said Atkinson.
Edge players say they have learned to protect themselves from the rough stuff but that there needs to be a line drawn at some point.
“You gotta do what you gotta do to win but I don’ t know if it was completely necessary to have ten guys in the box in the first second of the game but it’s a coaching strategy I guess,” said Jeff Rose.
“It’s not really good to see staged fights but the ones with more passion, those get the guys fired up and it’s better to see but the ones that are staged, ya know, that’s not good for the game,” said Taro Haroc.
“It was definitely uncalled for I thought. But obviously some of the fans like it and some of them don’t so,” said Quinn Mosby. "It's part of the game but it can't go to the extent that it did obviously, in a brawl. I think it lies on a little bit of everyone, you have to have an amount of respect for each other to kind of understand when to draw that line and when not to go over it."
Coach Atkinson says fighting has actually been curtailed in the minors over the past few years.
Tortorella's suspension is effective retroactive to January 19th and runs through Sunday February 2 and the money from Hartley's fine will go to the NHL Foundation.
The Canucks won the game 3-2 in a shoot-out and the two teams are scheduled to meet again in Vancouver on March 8th.
(With files from TSN.ca, ctvnews.ca and Chris Epp)
