Sportsnet's Jennifer Botterill stokes outrage on the net after altercation with Kevin Bieksa

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Joshua Deeds
November 4, 2024 (9:26 PM)

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The sparks are flying today, as the fallout from the altercation between Hockey Night in Canada Host Jennifer Botterill, and former NHL defenseman Kevin Bieksa.

The altercation occurred during the broadcast Saturday night when Bottlerill and Bieksa disagreed on the topic of fighting.

This was after a hot take from Botterill saw fans grill her over her stance on the Detroit Red Wings' own Patrick Kane. Where she thought Patrick Kane shouldn't make the Four Nations Face-Off roster.

What had lit the internet on fire was her take on a play that happened between the Penguins forward Noel Acciari, and the Montreal Canadiens Juraj Slafkovsky.

The two players were fighting for the puck, and Acciari decided to make a controversial hit on Slafkovy, with a clear intent to injure the forward.

Acciari wouldn't receive a suspension for his egregious hit on Slafkovsky. Instead of receiving discipline from officials, "the code" would make an appearance as Arber Xhekaj would make Acciari pay instead.

Bieksa thought that an "Eye for an Eye" was an appropriate response given the lack of enforcement of discipline from officials:

"The game is over... I think right there is the right time for Xhekaj to go at a guy who took out your star player earlier in the game. That for me is the right time to go at a guy. It's an eye for an eye. I don't think he's too apologetic about that, I wouldn't care. I wouldn't care if it's clean or not, you get my guy I'm getting you back at some point."

Botterill would fire back on Bieksa's notion of what could be construed as orthodoxy in the hockey world:

"Then you get players with potential suspensions or fines and you guys are just fine. Guess what the game is changing and there is other solutions. Maybe it's changing, maybe it can change. It has changed, it doesn't always have to be an eye for an eye.

Of course, hockey purists are angry over the fact that she's a woman, plus her hot take which is controversial cause it's contrary to the old-school view of hockey.

Former NHL Enforcer Luke Gadzic would offer his viewpoint of the "play":

"I just think people sometimes take the emotion out of it and they forget how much adrenaline and emotion is in the players at that time in a game. You see your first overall pick, your little brother, your kid that you love on the hockey team... you see an older player on the other team extend his elbow to his jaw and he goes off and he's now in concussion protocol... that pisses me off. I want to take action from there and maybe it shouldn't be a knee but I understand the frustration there."

While Botterill's take is considered heresy by the purists, honestly it all falls back on Toronto who fails to take accountability in enforcing the rules.

Botterill plays a different style of hockey and honestly, it does discount the value of enforcers on ice. She's let it influence her views, and Bieksa is stuck in his own. The topic itself is polarizing really. A good view on this topic is the documentary "Ice Guardians" from 2016.

If the policing on ice were done correctly, there wouldn't be an argument or a need for enforcers.