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NEWS > SPORTS > NHL ON THE HUNT FOR SERIAL KILLER FOLLOWING DEATH OF WADE BELAK
NHL ON THE HUNT FOR SERIAL KILLER FOLLOWING DEATH OF WADE BELAK
September 1 2011
Toronto, Canada – Hockey has always been a tough game for tough men. As much popularity as goal scorers enjoy, the game has always been played between the lines, something true of the early days of the sport and just as true now. Hitting, checking, and fighting have always been an integral part of the game and likely always will be.
Not everyone is happy about that, though, including many in the NHL head offices who have, for years, been trying to cut down on the violence in the sport in an effort to make it more palatable to a wider audience, as well as to protect marquee players. That effort has been largely unsuccessful with many players on all sides preferring to stick with the traditions of the game, including all the violence.
For Wade Belak that was the job. His job was not to score goals or make assists, his job was to be the tough guy on the ice, delivering hits and, when needed, throwing fists. Belak was found dead in his Toronto condominium on Wednesday, the third such death of an NHL enforcer this off season. That eerie and creepy series of deaths, all of young men, has prompted many in the NHL to wonder if someone might have taken a hit out on all the tough guys in the league.
“It’s certainly something we’ve thought about. We don’t want to sensationalize these deaths because they are upsetting but having so many in such a short span of otherwise healthy people has made a lot of people really concerned that something else might be going,” said an NHL insider. “One death would be sad, two would be strange, but three is a pattern and that is very disturbing.”
Derek Boogaard, 28, died in May. Rick Rypien,27, died just two weeks ago. Belak was 35.
“We are fully cooperating with police officials. This is a sad time for the league and for all the fans. We do are deeply concerned and saddened by these events, but we have a responsibility to help try and figure out what happened, and the only conclusion we have come to is that someone is doing this,” continued the insider. “We hope that isn’t the case, we hope these are just a series of tragic incidents, but we have to be open to all possibilities including a serial killer at work in the league, possibly taking out past offences against these men.”
Boogaard’s death was ruled accidental; Rypien’s and Belak’s have both been ruled suicides, precisely what a serial killer would want.
“There is a remote possibility that someone is behind all these strange deaths but it is 
more likely fluke, or maybe that’s just what I would like to believe. I’m sure these guys made a lot of enemies on and off the ice, but for all of them to have offended one person, that would be strange. Of course if it is a serial killer he may just be using them as examples, to try and seek revenge on the type of people who caused him harm,” said Scrape TV Sports analyst Mark Marvins. “There are a number of possible suspects, maybe a family member of Bob Probert, who died last year. They could blame the enforcer role for his death. More likely though I would hazard a guess that it was someone inside the NHL hierarchy. They have shown nothing but disdain for enforcers and maybe they are trying to send a message. If that is the case I think they can be sure that the message was received. Hopefully they lay off now.”
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, the chief opponent of fighting, has not made any type of comment publicly.
Alexi Orton, Sports Correspondent
NEWS > SPORTS > NHL ON THE HUNT FOR SERIAL KILLER FOLLOWING DEATH OF WADE BELAK
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