Punishment for Conboy, Tropp befits actions

it’s amazing to see the difference in this article and your article from yesterday. i guess after reading the myriad of comments on yesterday’s article, you realized all of the fallacies that you wrote (myriad-a great number). no longer are you blaming u-m fans for the incident. you actually realized that it was the fault of tropp and conboy. however, you still put blame on kampfer for making a completely legal hit. why does every nice legal hit have to be retaliated with dirty playing? suspending these players for the remainder of the season doesn’t really do much, considering state’s season is all but over. what happens next year when they play against kampfer again? will the ccha actually assign competent officials who will be able to control the physicality of the game? this should not be the end of the punishments for these players, they should never be allowed to face u-m again. if nothing further happens, players from both teams will be at risk when the teams meet next year.

I would like to weigh in on this debate with what I think a more objective opinion—my claim to neutrality is that I have degree from each of these two great universities. Conboy pulled a dumb move that got him a penalty that most of us would probably not be talking about afterward if Tropp had not exceeded any of our standards for behavior by slashing at the head of an immobilized player on the ground. If you watch the replay you can even see Conboy reflexively pushing Tropp away after he slashes Kampfer. In any case, Conboy’s bonehead grab from behind was now part of a possibly criminal mugging so he gets the same punishment at Tropp.
I think the bigger issue is over the future of hockey. When will they finally do something to end the culture of eye for an eye self enforcement in hockey. Yes, its a violent sport but so is football. Could you imagine if the football team had a guy out there just to serve as an enforcer. If he thought a tackle was too hard on his teamate, he would yank off the helmet of the competitor and start slugging it out with him. The guy would be suspended and multiple offesnes would get him banned from football for life. As a first step college (and pro) hockey has to institute a zero-tolerance rule that literally if you take your “gloves-off” you are out for the rest of the game. Moreover, the league should automatically enforce 5 game suspensions for any off-puck or post-play related hits or fights of any kind. You will be amazed at how rare fighting will become and the culture will slowly change as well so that the penalties will largely be forgotten.

Agreed. Once cooler heads prevail, the punishment is fitting. I also have to agree that you’ve changed your earlier tune, Mr. DiFilippo. But that is to be expected from a “journalist.”

What I would like to see (that I certainly won’t) is the CCHA come down on the refs. Two things would have happened differently in the NHL. Once Kampfer went down (he was clearly unconscious), the players would have stopped. Well, except for the Bertuzzis, Averys, and Tootoos of the league.

Second, the refs would have charged in like a herd of stampeading rhinos. The refs let this game get “chippy” and out of control, and they let a scrum form next to an unconscious player. That is unacceptable to me. Someone has to take control of these situations, and the refs are the only neutral party on the ice. Oh well. At least Kampfer is okay. Thank God for small miracles.

“But there is no way anyone can assume Conboy and Tropp had intentions to personally take out U-M’s Steve Kampfer.”

Stop. Please stop now. It’s clear from the replay that Tropp started in to slash him, pulled back for a better angle, and then went on in for the hit. Your defense of these two is comical.

Comley’s punishment is appropriate, but Tropp committed a felony and should be charged as such. Community service, a fine, and probation (or 2-3 days in jail, tops) is a fair sentence, along with expulsion from the team and a revokation of his scholarship, is minimally.

Had a nonathlete slashed a prone person in the neck on the floor, that nonathlete would be in jail awaiting bail, and expelled from the University.

Are you preparing for Comley’s firing during or after this season? That will be of no great surprise either. Doesn’t bode well that he admitted after the game he sensed Conboy might do something stupid once he got out of the penalty box that last time.

Tropp should have his scholarship pulled and be kicked off the team at a minimum. There is no defense for slashing at a player’s neck whatever the circumstance.

I hope this is the last article the State News allowed you to write. Otherwise, I question Matt Bishop’s integrity or whoever your boss is. At a minimum, there should be an apology for the first article you wrote.

I was at the game and Tropp hit him IN THE SIDE not in the head or neck you idiot get some glasses. You write about this team all the time and don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. You’re rrobably just some crappy has been Michigan high school hockey player. Stop changing your opinion every week and stick to one. Your articles this week proved that you no idea what you’re talking about and just go along with the trends. Lastly, it’s not really a good idea to generalize the whole team with the actions of Tropp and Conboy because if you knew anything about the team, which it’s quite obvious YOU DON’T, then you’d know that a majority of team wouldn’t take out those actions.

“I think the bigger issue is over the future of hockey. When will they finally do something to end the culture of eye for an eye self enforcement in hockey.”

This was the chance to for the CCHA, Comley and MSU to make a statement about just that. However, by allowing Comley to sit Conboy and Tropp for the remaining 12+ games of an already meaningless season, the CCHA, Comley and the Michigan State Athletic Department have all but ensured that this type of, as you as, “eye for an eye self enforcement” will continue. By allowing the two to retain their scholarships and places on the team it is almost guaranteed that retribution will be sought at the first chance possible. Michigan State and the CCHA had a chance to make a positive impact on the game of college hockey here, they could have set a precedent that all coaches would have been bound by and that may have truly deterred some like future incidents. Instead, they half-heartedly swung, and fully missed.

But I guess if this is good for anything, it will give us all reason to converge back here next year to talk about the sure to come brawl.

“But there is no way anyone can assume Conboy and Tropp had intentions to personally take out U-M’s Steve Kampfer.”

So what exactly are the intentions when you wind up and swing your stick as hard as you can at someone’s neck while they lay motionless and potentially unconscious on the ice?

I’m sure you’ve never played hockey, Alex, but despite the fact that everyone on the other team is wearing the same colors, you know who they are. Especially when you hit them from behind, and can see their number. Especially when you play them 5 times a year. When you punch someone in the back of the neck, you are trying to take someone out. Period.

That is also what you’re trying to do when you take a slapshot at the skull of an unconscious player.

Your ongoing failure remains an embarrassment.

I think that these two players got what they deserved. It was an unfortunate combination of embarrassment and frustration that led to this incident. These things happen in hockey, that is the way the sport is. Especially between two fierce rivals. If you can’t take a hit, don’t play hockey. You should have learned that in Pee-Wee. Go Lake State!!

Wes. “These things happen in hockey. If you can’t take a hit,don’t play hockey”. This criminal act and moronic statements from immature louts like this is the reason hockey is just a joke. In no other collegiate sport is this type behavior allowed. Period. They were suspended, not thrown off. Big deal. They are also quitters. Players like these and fans and apologizers like those above are a disgrace to the game. Period.

Alex, yes it can get worse than that. Having apologizers rationalizing that behavior away enables it to continue eventually leading to an even worse incident. Ban fighting, period. Some young man’s life eventually depends on it.