My Thoughts on Col/Dal and Colin Campbell

In the game against the Avalanche, the Sharks were up 3-1 in the third. What happened? They let Colorado score two quick ones to tie the game. And then they lost in overtime. Earlier in the game Jamie McGinn's goal had been disallowed due to a high stick.

In the game against the Stars, the Sharks were up 4-2 in the third. What happened? They let Dallas score two really quick ones to tie the game. And then they lost in overtime. Earlier in the game a Marc-Edouard Vlasic goal had been disallowed due to a high stick.

Now, certainly the Sharks seemed to turn off the lightswitch in the end of the third in both games, but does it strike anyone else as odd that these two games were eerily similar? One should not be able to recap two games using the same sentence structure, just switching out specifics (and reason for the disallowed goal did not even have to be switched). I'm honestly not sure which game was worse, Dallas or Colorado. After the Avs game, I thought, Well, at least we didn't score the game winner for the Avs. I don't know what to think about the Dallas game. At least it didn't go to the fourth overtime? Well, games no longer can go to the fourth overtime during the regular season. Sure, there were some pretty weak calls and some pretty blatant noncalls at the end of the third and in the beginning of OT, but still. Sharks, what is up?
The Good from the Dallas Game

• Marc-Edouard Vlasic finally picked up a point. Actually though, he looked much stronger offensively tonight.
• The Sharks scored four goals in a row after being down 2-0. 
• Scott Nichol was an absolute beast tonight.
• Joe Pavelski was also a beast, taking a puck to the face (on the bench!) and coming back to play out the end of the game.
• Patrick Marleau and Jason Demers looked really good together coming through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone. Nice passing, and quick skating, led to a couple scoring chances.
• Niemi's glove hand looked strong.
• (Not counting the fights, which I don't) The Sharks were a lot better with staying out of the penalty box.

The Bad from the Dallas Game

• The Sharks allowed Dallas to score the first two goals.
• The Sharks allowed Dallas to tie up the game, and allowed them to score those two goals in a matter of seconds.
• They lost in overtime. Again. (see above)
• Niemi had some issues with giving up rebounds, and he had a hard time finding the puck when there was a lot of traffic in front of the net. This inability to see the puck through traffic led to all of Dallas' goals.
• The Sharks did not convert a single powerplay on this road trip.

Now we get to some of the interesting stuff; Colin Campbell Controversy. (hooray for alliteration)
I may be a somewhat "newer" hockey fan, but I'm old enough to know that doing the kind of sh*t Campbell did can get you into a lot of trouble. This kind of situation can range from a middle school class to some of the world's most powerful organizations, but the lesson is always the same; don't send anything in an email that you wouldn't want anyone to discover. In today's day and age, that is Email Lesson #1. Everyone makes that mistake at least once in their emailing life, but the smart ones learn from their mistakes, and giving that multiple Colie emails were found, it's pretty obvious Campbell did not learn a lesson. Will he learn the lesson now? Well, probably not, but we can always hope. Of course, one of the bigger issues here is that the NHL is not addressing the problem, merely supporting Campbell, and with no supporting evidence. This tidbit of information I learned from just about every teacher I have had in the past 5 or so years; you may argue whatever you like, but you better be able to back it up. Bettman and the NHL are arguing that Campbell's emails were taken out of context, and nothing came of the situation, but they are not offering any supportive evidence to convince the teams, players, media, and fans of it. Another way to approach the NHL's response is to look at the way in which they are responding. It can be analyzed as ineffective. Now, in contrast to the NHL, I will actually back up that thesis.
Bettman and Campbell first released an official statement that stated that Campbell was just venting as a "hockey dad," but in that statement, they only addressed the issue of familial conflict of interest; they did nothing to dispel the rumors about Marc Savard, and they also did not address the issue of vulgarity in the emails. This statement is ineffective on two levels; one, it does not address the majority of the issue, and two, the NHL and Campbell are not accepting the blame, or the accountability for what Campbell did. As I learned in a class called Individual and Society (INS for short) a leader can save face and maintain more power if they admit to their wrongdoings, even if it was not their fault in the first place. Passing the blame off makes people more suspicious, and denial makes people even more suspicious. Also, the lack of addressing an issue will always come back to bite you in the .... That is just a simple lesson from life.
Today, Colie was on a couple radio shows, and Bettman released his official statement about Colin Campbell. I listened to all of them, and it sounded like I was listening to politicians. Perhaps, in a way, that's what they are, but in case you've been living under a rock, politicians are not exactly viewed in a good light right now. Also, Bettman's statement was incredibly vague and defended Campbell as a person but did little to defend the way he does his job. Bettman also describes these claims brought against Campbell as the musings of "some people on the Internet and in the media," but Bettman fails to realize that the NHL has one of the largest blogospheres of any pro sport, and that his target audience is those specific people he condemns. Bettman also refers to the claims against Campbell simply as "allegations" or "assertions" which only furthers the idea that he is denying the entire idea that Campbell did anything wrong. I could go on and on about Bettman's statement, because the entire statement was a load of trash, but I will spare you.
Campbell's phone interview was perhaps worse than Bettman's statement. At first he tried to justify the two suspensions he handed out that day, but his explanations were convoluted and eventually he wandered entirely off topic. Also, referring to the emails, he said they were taken out of context, mentioned that they were from at least three years ago, and said that they were just emails thrown around the office. The age of the emails is not relevant. Campbell, you still sent those emails. That you sent them a few years ago does not negate the fact that you sent them. Also, even if you are just emailing some close colleagues in the office, that is no excuse for profanity. These were your work emails. People are questioning how you do your job, and the fact that you used profanity in your emails indicates that you are not very professional. People already question how you do things (see Wheel of Fortune, Suspension Flowchart). This does not help your cause.

What the NHL and Campbell should have done differently....

1. Campbell should not have made it into a laughing matter, referring to himself as just a hockey dad venting.
2. Campbell should have accepted full responsibility for what he did, and apologized to any parties involved, including, but not limited to, Marc Savard, the Bruins, Gregory Campbell, the General Managers of the various franchises, the list goes on.
3. While it was advisable for Bettman to remain loyal to Campbell (it gives the impression of no internal issues), he should not have ever had to deny that Campbell did anything wrong. As the commissioner of the NHL, it is his job to be sure his employees are functioning to their full capacity, and 
4. Bettman and Campbell should have addressed this issue within hours of the news breaking. Really, there is no excuse for them waiting a full day to speak to the public, and even address the issue at all. (Had they come out sooner to address the problem, less fans would be forced to rely upon news sources such as blogs for information; the sheer amount of blog posts about "Colie-Gate" that were available before the NHL's response indicates that many fans turned to alternative news sources for information and opinions.)

What I would like to happen...

1. Campbell steps down. I do not want to see him fired, I want to see him step down. It will portray him in a slightly better light if he is the one initiating the end of the job. Also, if Campbell steps down, it will look bad for Bettman.
2. The NHL adopts a panel of judges for any supplemental disciplinary cases. There have been many write-ups that focus on this idea, enough that I do not need to go into details explaining how it will be more just if more people are ruling on the decisions.