One Fan's Perspective

On Friday, former New Jersey State Trooper James Harney was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in “Operation Slapshot.” Former Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach Rick Tocchet was implicated in and plead guilty to charges stemming from the operation that unearthed a gambling ring two years ago. He may be eligible for parole in a year.

Harney plead guilty to conspiracy to promote gambling, promoting gambling, and official misconduct. Under the plea arrangement, Harney indicated that Tocchet was an equal partner in the gambling ring and Tocchet also plead guilty to similar charges of conspiracy and promoting gambling. Harney had another charge against him of official misconduct as he transacted gambling business as an officer for the state of New Jersey, which may influenced the sentencing. Tocchet has yet to be sentenced, and it is unclear what his sentence will be.

With the recent scandals involving an NBA official betting on the outcome of games that he worked, and Tocchet’s participation in the World Series of Poker Main Event, I would think it’s very unlikely that he will be reinstated as a coach for the Phoenix Coyotes.

The whole scandal was very unfortunate for Tocchet and for Phoenix Coyotes fans who lost a potentially great coach. Gambling operations such as “Operation Slapshot” are obviously very lucrative for those like Tocchet and Harney. With the Southwest’s proximity to Las Vegas, it is unclear why anyone would choose to place a bet with an illegal gambling ring, but the odds these guys were giving on sporting events must have been too good to pass up.

Sometimes working with friends doesn’t always pan out.

Tags: NHL, Operation Slapshot, Phoenix Coyotes, Rick Tocchet by pbcoyotes
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Rick Tocchet is out of the World Series of Poker. If you think the reason for his departure was that he tangled with a professional tournament player, or with a lucky novice, or that he made some bad gambling moves causing him to bust out, you would be wrong.

He is out because he didn’t show up.

Even though he was on a shorter stack of 17,100 in chips, he was not officially eliminated until level two of day two.

While no one knows the reason for his departure, speculation is that everyone talking about his legal issues as he passed the time in a high profile card tournament caused him to back away from the table. If he was smarter, and he really wanted to play a poker tournament in the World Series, he would not have picked the $10,000 buy-in Main Event; the high publicity poker tournament that created multi-millionaires such as Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, and Jaime Gold. Even the casual fan knows about the World Series of Poker Main Event thanks to Rounders, Chris Moneymaker, and ESPN.

Playing the smaller events would have possibly garnered less publicity for him. However, with buy-ins ranging from $1500 to $5000 the prize for first place is considerably less than the Main Event’s offering.

What would have been the headline if he found his way to becoming the chip leader?

Tags: Hockey, NHL, Rick Tocchet, World Series of Poker by pbcoyotes
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By way of Kukla’s Korner, former Phoenix Coyotes associate coach Rick Tocchet decides to spend some time playing in the World Series of Poker Main Event. The Main Event has a $10,000 buy in for a chance to win upwards of a $7 Million prize pool.

If Tocchet wanted a chance to return to the bench, pleading guilty to charges of third degree conspiracy and third degree promotion of gambling for his role in the New Jersey gambling ring and then playing in a large high profile poker tournament while awaiting sentencing is not the smartest thing to do.

After causing a complete stir in the hockey world two years ago with Operation Slapshot, I hope he’s a better poker player. True gamblers tend not to do well in poker tournaments against other players who know the odds.

He’s still alive with 25,000 chips...the chip leader for Day 1c (the first stage is separated into four smaller stages due to the size of the tournament field) is Tom Bernard with 220,000, in case anyone wants to know.

Tags: Hockey, NHL, Rick Tocchet, World Series of Poker by pbcoyotes
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