As the NHL playoffs are on the cusp of starting the second round there are a few ongoing and over played stories that need to take a backseat to the games taking place on the ice.
First foremost, the over analyzing of any bodycheck that is deemed to be dirty or as the politically correct world calls them “head shots”. While I do support safety amongst the players and even more so players respecting one another, there needs to be a refresher in the fact hockey (especially at the professional level) is a contact sport and from time to time players will get injured. It is an aspect of the game that those who play it are well aware and in turn are taught to protect themselves on the ice at all times.
Much like in Football when a quarterback is hammered by a linebacker on a blindside sack, a catcher in baseball takes a foul ball off the shoulder or a basketball player takes a hard tumble while driving the paint, or a race car driver who gets clipped coming around the corner, you are going to have players injured during a course of a hockey game. With the science of sports medicine being taken to new levels on almost a daily basis, we have learned a great deal about the affects of injuries of all athletes long term; It is this type of research which will only enhance and improve how all sports are played and taught moving forward. This not only will benefit the athlete but it will benefit the world of sports itself, this is something which needs to be embraced, yet respecting the nature of how each sport is played.
On almost a nightly basis I watch a panel of “experts” analyze another bodycheck that has been placed under a microscope and broken down frame by frame. It is almost as compelling as watching the JFK assassination footage for the umpteenth time. This trend seems leave out one glaring omission, what could the injured player done to protect themselves? Did they turn their back to the play in the danger zone? Were they skating with their head down? Were they “admiring” a pass or watching the play instead of protecting themselves? This is not an angle to justify any dirty hits or actions that have and/or will take place, it is one that often gets misplaced when this topic is discussed.
With the game of hockey changing following the lockout of 2004-05, we have seen the style of hockey and how it is played today taking a different look compared to the past. With so much emphasis played on speed and opening up the game throughout all of the zones, we are seeing some tremendously skilled athletes perform at higher level and pace year in and year out. With the “clutch and grab” element being phased out by the NHL amongst many other tactics used in the past that would give even the most offensively challenged teams a chance to compete with the elite. These were the types of antics that drove a player like Mario Lemieux to retire and call the NHL a “garage league”. While Mario and others were tired of what the game had become, I wonder if any of them saw what the new rules would bring to light moving forward, an excellent example of this being two of his employees Sidney Crosby and Matt Cooke.
The real question is, how does the NHL find and manage a happy medium of maintain physical play as it should, while studying and defining the grey areas that continue to eat up air time and take away from how the game is being played. The player needs to be accountable for their actions on both sides of the coin when they engage into every night, just ask the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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