Michael Bublé Punches Back Against Critics of Hockey Violence: 'There's Got to Be Atonement on the Ice'

Posted on Oct 19th 2011 4:00PM by Joshua Ostroff

Michael Buble WHL

As the NHL laces up its skates for another season, hockey has returned to the ice battered from a long, dark summer. A spate of suicides by former enforcers -- most recently, ex-bruiser Wade Belak killed himself in Toronto on Aug. 31 -- and concussions keeping stars like Sydney Crosby on the bench have sparked an outcry against hockey violence. The backlash has even been led by some of the league's most famous perpetrators: Jim Thomson, Chris Nilan and Stu Grimson.

Well, Michael Bublé, Canadian crooner and co-owner of the Vancouver Giants major junior league hockey team, has had enough.

"I find it hypocritical that men who made their money fighting or playing the tough guy are now telling people it shouldn't be part of the game. I think it's part of hockey -- no one's ever got killed fighting. I think there's got to be atonement on the ice. You take a shot at a team's best player, then you need to pay the price," Bublé told AOL Music.

"I honestly can't stand what's happening in hockey right now. I don't think the players know what they can and can't get away with. I obviously think the players should have more respect for each other when they hit each other, but I saw [NHL head of player safety Brendan] Shanahan suspend a guy two games for high sticking. That's just crazy. It can't go on like this."

The singing star is certainly a less controversial character than NHL commentator Don Cherry, who recently inspired outrage by calling the former toughs-turned-violence critics "pukes" and "turncoats," but he's essentially arguing the same point: That violence is part of the game. Bublé, however, has some possible solutions in mind to deal with the situation.

"They need a third party. You cannot have someone who works for [NHL commissioner] Gary Bettman making disciplinary decisions. Nor can you have someone who is part of the players' association. You have to have a third party who has nothing to do with either. So it's fair and balanced," he says.

"The game has never been as good -- its fast, it's exciting. But hockey has also never gone through a time as tough as this with these young guys who were fighters who have taken their own lives," he adds, acknowledging the subtext of the uproar.

"[Critics] believe there's a correlation with the fighting, I don't believe there is. I think there are other things involved there."

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