In a week, defenceman James Wisniewski of the NHL’s New York Islanders became an overnight YouTube sensation.
Wisniewski was caught on live television making a gesture simulating oral sex to New York Rangers pest Sean Avery on October 11, and the uncensored clip has since drawn close to 600,000 hits on the popular video-sharing website.
It also garnered Wisniewski a two-game suspension from league officials on October 13.
There is little debate that Wisniewski’s creative use of both his hands and mouth was of a childish and overly suggestive nature, almost to the point of absurd hilarity. That the action was considered a suspendable offense by the NHL surprised many.
Rude gestures, while not as frequent as obscene comments, are not uncommon in any sport let alone professional hockey.
“It’s not the first time, I’ve seen it happen before,” claimed agitator Jarkko Ruutu of the Ottawa Senators to the Ottawa Sun.
Chris Neil, also of the Ottawa Senatores, told the Toronto Sun, “Guys cross the line every game…there’s other stuff out there that’s worse than that for sure. There’s always stuff said on the ice.”
Manager of hockey operations for the Greater Toronto Hockey League, Peter Kourtis, pointed out that Wizniewski’s infraction would have been called a gross misconduct for obscene gesture in minor hockey. That means it would have carried a three-game suspension with the possibility of extension based on the discretion of the League.
“We have set a standard for conduct that may be higher than what schools use in terms of acceptable language,” said Kourtis. “The players and some parents have been affected by this high standard as they have been suspended for what they feel are small penalties that don’t [physically] hurt anyone.”
The NHL, though less consistent with its rulings, has also been known to stomp down on players for obscene behaviour.
The most famous case to date involved Sean Avery — then of the Dallas Stars — calling his ex-girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert, who had begun dating Dion Phaneuf — then of the Calgary Flames — his “sloppy seconds.” The premeditated comment, spoken in front of a scrum of journalists, prompted outrage, and the NHL slapped an incredible eight-game suspension on Avery.
It is often at the behest of the media that the NHL takes action against behaviourial abuse on the ice.
“When [a rude gesture] happened in the past, it wasn’t reported. Nobody talked about it,” said Ruutu. “Once the media find out about it, it’s blown out and you have to deal with it.”
Hal Murawnik, a director for Toronto Marlies AHL on Rogers TV and simulcast on Leafs TV, related with Ruutu’s sentiments.
“[Wisniewski’s gesture] would not have blown out of proportion if not for the age we live in,” Murawnik explained. “It’s a YouTube phenomenon. If not for YouTube, it likely wouldn’t have been such a big deal. Instead, it forced the NHL to have to make a very knee-jerk reaction because the act and the discussion it subsequently generated created bad publicity for the League.”
Calgary Flames forward Brendan Morrison was much less sympathetic.
“You have to recognize the fact [that] millions of people will be watching,” Morrison said to the Toronto Sun. “This thing is going to get played and played and played again, and it’s not good for the guy or the game. We don’t need things like that.”
The irony here is that the incident could have very easily been missed by live television and therefore would not have even entered public knowledge.
“Pro hockey on network television on average can have up to 10 different camera angles,” explained Murawnik. “And if they had chosen to cut to a camera that was broadcasting at a different angle away from Wisniewski, no one would have even known that a gesture was made and he would have likely gotten off the hook.
“Doing live hockey broadcasts are tough. Anything can happen, and all you can do about it is roll with the punches because once it is shown on air, you can’t take it back. An action that conotates towards a sexual act is therefore an especially awkward moment for the production team because for the most part, you just can’t show that kind of stuff on live TV.”
There is little denying the role the media took in the eventual suspension of Wisniewski for his hand-near-mouth incident, particularly given that almost all the cable sports networks felt obligated to blur the action during replays.
As Bob McKenzie of TSN would argued, “If you can’t replay on network TV what he did, it’s suspendable.”
