| Quebec
City, Quebec - The Stingers' Rick Dudley will likely be suspended. The charge is linesman
battering, and he is guilty. But Dudley thinks the pending one-to-three game suspension is
awfully harsh. "It's not fair," he growls. "They should look at the
linesman's actions, too. He's got no business grabbing me by the scruff of the neck."
Dudley's transgression came with just seconds remaining in Saturday's game against the New
England Whalers and was the out growth of a six-player melee. It
began when Stinger Jacques Locas had words with New England's Gerry Swain. Big John Hughes
next jumped into the quarrel but was restrained by referee Bill Friday. So Dudley took
after Swain and exchanged a couple punches. The two linesmen pulled Dudley away and tried
to escort him off the ice. Dudley pretended to go alone quietly, but it was only a ploy.
When he reached the other side of the ice, he suddenly jerked free from the linesmen and
tried to get back at Swain. Once of the officials managed to get hold of him again,
however, and Dudley, in attempting to escape, pushed and flailed his arms at the linesman,
hitting him in the chest.
The hot tempered winger drew roughing, major misconduct and game
misconduct penalties as a result. The last two are accompanied by automatic fines. But
money alone will not satisfy the league, apparently, although coach Terry Slater wishes it
would. There is almost certain to be a suspension, says team vice president Bill DeWitt.
"I talked to Bud Poile (WHA vice president) Sunday and he told me he wants to see the
game films," DeWitt reports. "Depending on the films there will probably be a
one to three game suspension.
DeWitt brought the film along with him to this charming - and very
snowy - Canadian capital. Polie is to meet with him here and also talk to Dudley. Nobody
is sure when action might be taken, but Dudley expects to play in tonight's 8 PM game
against the Nordiques. After that ? "I just hope we don't lose him for some
interdivisional games," sighs Slater. "The line he's on is the best one we've
got going. If we lose him, we lose that line."
Like Dudley, Slater feels a suspension would be too harsh. "The
linesmen are to blame, too," coach declares. "They get everyone mad. Good
linemen could have prevented the whole thing. I think maybe what three should be is a
fine, something that would say to everyone, 'Hey when you get mad, don't take it out on
the linesman.' But not a suspension. If you remember Gordie Howe was suspended earlier for
just two games and he actually hit the referee. Duds didn't really hit the guy at all.
He'd better not get more than a two-game suspension."
Dudley also contends, "I never hit him. I was just mad and I
was trying to get away from him. He was holding me by the seat of my pants and by my
sweater and I was trying to break away. He didn;t have to hold me like that. He could have
stayed in front of me without holding on to me. I was really mad and he just made things
worse. I think the league should take a hard look at its officiating." Dudley finally
left the ice when referee Friday came over and ordered him off, but that didn't settle
things with the battered linesman.
"He turned in a really bad report to the league office,"
Stingers president Brian Heekin says. "I guess he made it sound like it was the worst
thing that's ever happened to him, so the league promised some action. "I think there
might be some conflict, though," Heekin goes on, backed up this guy's report. That
might be why Polie wants to see the film. Not trying to defend Rick's actions, but looking
at this from a purely human standpoint, I can see how it happened, with the linesman
hanging all over him like that. Players hate linesmen and referees because they're the
guys that call the offsides and fouls and things - then to suddenly have one of these guys
grabbing you like that."
Slater seconds this. "It looked to me like the linesman might
hit Rick," he says. But Dudley grew up with a passion for boxing and got so good he
once sparred Canadian heavyweight champ George Chuvalo. It is unlikely he will get any
sympathy pleading self-defense. So there will likely be a suspension, and now the worst
part is waiting. "You never know when these things will come," Slater moans.
"They could decide the thing over night or take a week to do it. I hope they don't
pick a spot where losing him is really going to hurt us bad." |
