Diving: that elusive two-and-a-half gainer with a twist

By Ross Brewitt

Diving. Epidemic diving has suddenly garnered the attention of the NHL General Managers during their consultations in Florida. Like it was a facet of the game that had heretofore been unknown. Truth is, it’s been around since Philadelphia’s Bill Barber was performing Cosmo Kramer tumbles in the early 70s.

It’s the second time the league, in its wisdom, has acknowledged the scam existed. Heck, they even had a rule against diving, but like a lot of rules in the NHL, they barely used it. Like that was news.

OK, there are a few things you should know about diving. Like myths and the dispelling of same.

As Don Cherry would have you believe, do Europeans dive more than the rest of the NHL player population? Hardly. Are specific players guilty of diving on a nightly basis? Yes. Is it limited to those of borderline abilities and skills? No.

Europeans, let’s face it, have always been suspect. As my grandfather often said, "yuh got yer basic ingredients right there." Europe, soccer, nudge-nudge. Are you picking up on the connection?

What’s missing here is that before Barber’s rookie season, 1972-73, Europeans were rare, sorta like shutouts in an All-Star game. "Nary a one," which is another of my grandfather’s descriptives.

As far back as 1999, I had written about diving, already rampant in the NHL. What prompted that column was watching a 90-minute vintage video of the ‘72 Bruin Ranger Stanley Cup final, won by Boston. In that piece I was attempting to make a couple of points. One, the series was over on May 11th. Two, there were no fouls resembling diving.

In the ’99 playoffs, I specifically cited obvious dives by big and mean Chris Pronger of the Blues, Penguin Matthew Barnaby (which wasn’t a complete surprise) and Colorado’s Peter Forsberg, a player of legendary strength and balance under fire. But the next paragraph said it all.

"…And it’s with deep regret I watched one of my favorites, Theo Fleury, the guy who needs to have all his hockey pants shortened, take a dive on game two of the Avalanche-Wings series. Yep, ol’ tooth-missing-and-proud-of-it. Theo, finally succumbing to "doing one for the team" instead of taking one for the team." A sad night indeed, when one of the all-time honest disturbers of the modern game resorts to antics more compatible with a second division soccer player.

Getting back to this year’s GM meetings in Florida, reveals a suggestion that a player receiving a diving penalty should also pay a thousand dollar fine. Wow! That’ll blow the problem out of the water. Not!

This is absolute proof that the pointy heads who run the NHL are out of touch. Any NHLer so accused could pay that measly fine out of pocket cash.

The second suggestion, emanating out of huffy-puffy Brian Burke GM of the Canucks, proposed a multi-game suspension. Well, at least he’s getting warmer, but I’m anxious to see how hot it gets when he tries this brainstorm on the Players Association for 2004.

Nope, the NHL should remain consistent and just dump it in the referee’s laps. It’s a judgment call anyway. Like "obstruction interference" was, and look how fast that disappeared. In the NHL this is called "research and development." Everywhere else it’s called "address and ignore."

Today, the names coming through qualified observers as the leaders in "banana peel cartwheels," are Matthew Barnaby, and Theo Fleury. It’d be interesting to see how many diving penalties those two have taken. By the way they’re both Canadians. What a jolt for Don Cherry.

And, for all those who have a gap in their hockey history, there was a shutout in an All-Star game. 1967, in Montreal, the Canadiens over the All Stars, 3-0.

See, if you read to the bottom, you always learn somethin’.

You can hear Ross Brewitt’s commentaries on WNSA The Fan, weekday mornings at 7:25 a.m.

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