I wrote once before about the stupidity involved in hockey with the violence that takes place. The Roy (father-son) fiasco only brings it to a head. Let’s do something about it. Beating up people is criminal. Treat them that way.

The advantages of violence in disrupting, intimidating and injuring players easily outweigh the small inconvenience of the penalties currently in place.

Violence belongs in war, not in sports.  Most Canadians like tough, physical hockey and played it. Also, most Canadians, don’t like the cheap illicit stuff – the knees, the checks from behind, the charging, the goon tactics when a team is down.

The playoffs are hockey’s showcase, a time to display the best side of our game in order to impress people that don’t always watch and to reward those that do.

The TV highlights should be of fast skating, beautiful goals and clean, hard checks, not ugly incidents. The violence does nothing but injure players, turn off fans and harm the business of hockey.

We are at a point where all the forces of the game have ramped up tremendously: physical forces, like faster speeds, stronger players and harder equipment. And psychological forces, like the huge financial stakes, intense media heat and ultra-tight competition. The pressure to win – and the incentive to resort to violence to gain an edge – is immense. Together they are pushing the game down the road of worse violence with worse results.

It’s time for hockey’s rules to swallow some spinach and push back, time for the NHL and all levels of hockey to stand up for the safety of its players, its image and its own business.

A few easily applied steps would help dramatically: