Official Site of Darcy Hordichuk

One of the playoffs’ livelier topics of conversation concerns the double standard which exists in the NHL’s judicial system between tough guys and stars.

You can guess where the Canucks’ Darcy Hordichuk falls out in that debate.

“You come to expect it when you play that role,” says the Canucks’ winger. “You know you’re going to get more than anyone else. It’s definitely unfair. You look at what (Calgary’s Mike) Cammalleri did (to Chicago’s Martin Havlat in the first round). Talk about a double standard. That’s a perfect example.”

Hordichuk, of course, was reacting to the controversy surrounding the six-game suspension handed out to Washington’s Donald Brashear for his head shot on the Rangers’ Blair Betts in the first round.

Cammalleri’s head shot to Havlat, meanwhile, went unpunished and the league is still deliberating over a similar incident involving Anaheim’s Corey Perry.

Brashear, like Hordichuk, is a tough guy. Cammalleri and Perry are frontlliners.

“I don’t want to accept it,” says Hordichuk. “But the reality is, every time someone like me steps on the ice, we really have to be careful. It’s so easy to say three years ago you did this or two years you did that.

“It’s just my opinion but I think a lot of guys around the league share that opinion.”