The Greater the Stage, the Greater the Responsibility

            In Thursday night’s Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals (hockey), the New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadians squared off against one another. Even for the playoffs, this was no ordinary game.

Less than three minutes into the first period, Montreal forward Brandon Prust illegally checked the Rangers’ Derek Stepan and broke his jaw. In response, New York Ranger Dan Carcillo checked Brandon Prust. The referee called the play dead and called a two minute penalty on Carcillo. But instead of heading to the penalty box, Carcillo attempted to track down Brandon Prust, hoping to initiate a fight and get some sort of revenge for the Stepan hit.  The referee, Scott Driscoll, would have none of it and grabbed Carcillo by the jersey, pulling him towards the penalty box. Carcillo resisted and proceeded to hit Driscoll, an act that got him thrown out of the game and ultimately ended up earning him a ten-game suspension. For the video on the entire incident, click here.

Carcillo hit a referee in front of a crowd of over 20,000 fans, not to mention thousands of other viewers who were watching the game on T.V. This sets a bad example for everyone who was witness to Carcillo’s outburst. The Ranger’s actions are analogous to citizens taking the law into their own hands when they feel justice has not been served.  Carcillo’s assault on the referee, likely an action of both understandable anger and an attempt to get away from Driscolls grip, is still unacceptable.  Even the Rangers’ coach, Alain Vigneault, called his player’s actions “inexcusable”.

As a professional athlete on a team with millions of fans, Carcillo has a duty to serve as a role model.  The visibility of his position comes with a greater than average responsibility to act maturely and professionally than the average American. He is someone who has an influence on many fans, and with an action like this he is setting a poor example.

Resisting authority is not always a bad thing. There are countless examples in history that show how resisting authority has actually improved the world. But in this situation, I highly doubt that Carcillo was trying to improve the world, but instead was merely unable to control his anger. His actions created chaos and did not benefit his team or his teammates.  Referees are hockey’s version of police. Carcillo’s actions might give fans the idea that it is acceptable to resist the police or resort to “vigilante justice” when they are angered by how a situation is being handled—not a good message to send.  Part of being a professional, in athletics and other fields, is controlling your own emotions to act responsibly and thoughtfully.  Carcillo failed his team, his fans, and his sport.