Regardless of whether a person is a hockey fan, most sports fans in the United States have seen at least one of the high-profile incidents and injuries that permeate the hockey news at least once a year.
Most are familiar with Todd Bertuzzi sucker punching and subsequently cleaning the ice with Steve Moore’s face or Marty McSorley taking a baseball-style swing at Donald Brashear’s head. Although these types of incidents are frowned upon by the entire hockey community, the possible elimination of headshots became the main topic of the NHL General Managers meetings last week.
A hit to the head is legal in the NHL as long as all other rules of contact are followed (for instance, a player keeping his elbows down or not leaving his feet in an attempt to decimate his opponent). These hits have been criticized for about 10 years as being dangerous and not necessary to the game, especially with increased awareness about the dangers of concussions. But just within the last season they have come under even more scrutiny with injuries to star players such as David Booth and Jonathan Toews — two young and explosive offensive talents.
The GMs discussed the possibility of banning hits to the head altogether last week in an attempt to eliminate the injuries caused by those hits. But banning these hits would cause a radical change in hockey for the worse.
Bertuzzi sucker punched Moore because of the strict enforcement of the instigator penalty, which discourages players from starting fights. Although the rule has good intentions behind it, players only bottle up that energy and take it out in a way less productive to the intentions of the game and more harmful to other players.
If the instigator penalty did not carry such a strong punishment (no team appeal, automatic suspension when it occurs in the final five minutes of regulation and sometimes a game misconduct penalty), Moore would have escaped the game with few bruises and cuts after a fight. Instead he suffered three fractured neck vertebrae, a concussion and facial lacerations.
So when the NHL general managers speak about curbing headshots, there are going to be about 700 professional athletes scared to deliver a body check.
With that fear, hockey cannot be played like the sport it truly is; one that draws fans and players through not only the physical nature of the game but also through the finesse it takes for some of the more talented players to succeed despite the physical pressures put on them.
The idea to curb headshots not only would eliminate some of the physical play that has been a staple of professional hockey, but it will downplay the skill of truly talented players who fight through the physical battles and still manage to put up almost 100 points per season (see Joe Thornton).
Already the phenomenon of players mobbing an opposing player after a clean check is out of control — the referees must stop play because of the fight, sometimes during a legitimate scoring chance — and it would be much worse should the GMs make illegal a player’s ability to eliminate a rushing forward from the play.
The GMs did not make a decision on what to do with the headshots, and instead will further discuss the matter in a committee before the next meeting in March.
Hockey is played with a physical element not present in most sports. Virtually every time a player steps on the ice, he is engaged in some sort of physical altercation.
It also is a game built on respect from one player to the next. If GMs want to curb the number of headshots and plays with the intent to injure, eliminate those players from the game — not the aspect of the game that makes it what it is.
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