The Rick Tocchet scandal: Day 3

So let's review. Until yesterday, when the New Jersey state police went public with a gambling investigation that could have far-reaching implications for the National Hockey League, things had gone pretty well for commissioner Gary Bettman in the post-lockout season.

Attendance records were being established, month-after-month. The on-ice product was receiving mostly positive notices.

The Olympic break was only six days away and Wayne Gretzky, executive director of Canada's men's Olympic team, was putting the finishing touches on the roster of a team favoured to win a gold medal.

Then, the news broke that Gretzky's assistant coach with the Phoenix Coyotes, Rick Tocchet, had been accused of financing an illegal betting operation, with ties to organized crime, and that Gretzky's wife, Janet Jones, had made bets with the syndicate.

And suddenly, all that promise, all that good news, went up in an ugly puff of smoke.

— Eric Duhatschek
The Globe and Mail
Feb. 8, 2006

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That's about as good a summary of the situation as I've read, and rather than rehash it in my own, less-impressive words, I'll let The 'Hat do the talking (or writing, as it were).

There's so much to be said, but I'll start by saying that my general feeling on the entire Tocchet matter is one of utter disappointment. As much as the next 'fan' of hockey, I enjoy talking about the minutia of the game — what happens on the ice. And after a full year without any action, the sort of 'yes it's back!' celebration many have been experiencing is fantastic.

That's not to say the league's return has been all good. Still, after following the sordid details of the lockout for over a year, it was wonderful to get back to talking about, well — anything related to the ice. The Panthers' woeful defence. The Sabres' breakout plays. The emergence of Kari Lehtonen. Anything to do with the game itself.

Mr. Tocchet's dallyings in sports betting schemes don't apply.

So, I can surely sympathize with Jes Golbez, who really, really doesn't want to hear another word about this story. If there was a choice, for instance, between having said scenario exist and not exist, I know exactly what I'd choose.

Alas, we aren't given a choice. And whether we 'give a rat's ass' or not, this story has huge implications for hockey, implications that someone who is as ardent a follower as myself can't ignore.

Tom Benjamin offers an excellent summary of most of the balls in the air here, and it should be required reading, even for those who want to shut their ears to all of it.

A few brief words and then the 'why you should care.'

And, when those same people meet a hockey player like Jarome Iginla ... they'll have already decided hockey might not be worth their time.

While the scale of the gambling ring has yet to come fully into view, you can be certain it's far from the 'mom & pop' small-scale betting some commentators have speculated. The $1.7-million in play resulted from only a 40-day window, and evidence suggests this is a scheme that has been in operation for some time.

Really, however, all you need to know is the key players involved. The assistant coach of an NHL franchise. Wayne Gretzky's wife (and, by extension, The Great One himself). Current NHLers, two of whom are all but confirmed to be current Pittsburgh Penguins Mark Recchi and John Leclair (both who have recently obtained legal counsel). The mob.

Can you, as a hockey fan, ignore this story outright? Definitely. The games are going to continue to be played and the great plays will be added to a season already full of highlights. Hockey's popularity in the United States is also not likely to suffer much, at least where the dollar amounts are concerned.

But charges such as these speak to something that's within hockey, something we — even as lowly fans and fledgling media members — shouldn't allow to pass unmolested. It's the kind of above-the-law mentality Alan Eagleson brought to his business affairs for 20-some years — something that, when it erupted, took away from how great the sport — and it's participants — really are.

The average person in the United States (and elsewhere) won't remember the whos and whys behind the NHL's involvement in this scandal. They'll pick up their New York Times — where this story was on the front page yesterday — and associate (perhaps forever) hockey with gambling, the mob and the same barbarism they saw when Todd Bertuzzi's image endlessly graced television news in February, 2004.

And, when those same people meet a hockey player like Jarome Iginla, or look to invest their dollars in a charity like the work Trevor Linden does each year, they'll have already decided hockey might not be worth their time.

"This Iginla fellow, I don't know about him," they might say. "They always said Tocchet was such a nice guy and look what happened with him."

"And if Gretzky's involved, who can you trust?"

Is that educated reasoning? Hardly. But the good that comes from hockey, the real kindness and effort players, coaches, volunteers — everyone — put into the game, is too often overshadowed by the underlying ugliness.

It matters. It matters because if we all stick our heads in the sand and pretend this is an insignificant, isolated event, it'll always be there. It'll always obscure players like Markus Naslund, a devout Christian from a small-town Sweden who contributes significant portions of his time to things like Canuck Place. And he's one of hundreds.

This isn't about ensuring the game's popularity in the United States. It's about cultivating something within hockey that is bigger and better than hits, goals, wins and the Stanley Cup.

Because Jes is right — the sport's not going to die from this or any of hockey's other historical indiscretions. It's just never going to reach the heights it should.