Hockey fans, no matter who they cheer for, are sure to empathize with superstar Sidney Crosby for suffering his latest setback. After sitting out almost 10 months with a concussion, Sid received a rousing welcome from his home crowd and delivered an electrifying performance that had sports fans and pundits alike asking the question “Could Sid still win the scoring title?” Only eight games later, after what looked to be a very innocent collision with a teammate, Crosby was back on the sideline with more “concussion-like” symptoms.
Last week (Dec. 17) on Coaches Corner, Don Cherry spoke to the issue of the disproportionate number of NHL players on the bench due to concussions (Giroux, Pronger, Letang … the list is remarkably long.) He argued in his classic brash style that if you speed up the game, which the league did by removing the red line and not allowing players to clutch, grab or hook ever so slightly, you will end up with harder hits and subsequently more injuries. He then argued that the hits and injuries these top-level players have suffered were the result of accidents that were totally unavoidable. He ran a series of clips showing the collisions that put these players temporarily out of the game and at a glance they did seem very accidental (most of the collisions involved players from the same team). Cherry held firm on his view that it has been a coincidental and unlucky streak and there is nothing concrete that the NHL can do about plain old bad luck.
I don’t fully agree though. Most of the collisions he showed, just like the one involving Sidney Crosby, were hits that didn’t necessarily cause concussions but brought back the concussion-like symptoms. There’s no arguing that it was the elbow strike in January of last year that caused the real damage to Crosby. Doctors are in agreement that once a person suffers a severe concussion, the symptoms often return after suffering much lesser bumps or jolts, which is exactly what happened to Crosby.
The bigger question is how do you lessen those severe, career-threatening blows? Cherry has part of the solution: soften the equipment. He has harped on this aspect of the game for quite some time and he has never been more right. The plastic found on the shoulder and elbow pads must be reduced in both size and hardness. Part of the reason these players charge into corners without fear is the amount of armour they are wearing under their sweaters. Couple that with the increase in the size and speed of these men and there is little wonder we are seeing so many injuries.
But is shrinking the padding enough? I think the other half of this solution has been staring us in the face for years. When the new overtime regulations came into effect, it offered a real boost to the energy level of the game. That five minute period of four versus four hockey is absolutely amazing. The puck moves incredibly fast and the players travel from end to end with such fluidity and pace, you almost have to adjust your eyes and brain to the game. There is no time to drift into corners hoping to catch another player with his head down. In four versus four players can’t afford to overskate the puck looking for that big hit because by the time they turn around, the puck will be long gone. The extra room on the ice means far fewer accidental collisions. More space to move makes it much easier to attack the opponent’s net and more difficult to attack the opponent’s body.
Hockey, like all games will evolve. There will always be advances in equipment, technology, strategy and officiating. What we can’t lose sight of is that no matter how things change, these men are still just going to work every time they step onto the ice. They just happen to have jobs that pay really well and are enjoyable. And not unlike our own work environments, we do what we can to minimize danger and potential hazards. It is my hope that NHL hockey continues to evolve into its truest form and that is a fast-paced game where great skaters and puck handlers are the only athletes found on the ice. Body contact will never be absent in the NHL and nor should it be when it’s used as a tool rather than a weapon.
Jonathan Wiebe currently sits on Huntsville’s community services committee and works as a carpenter and freelance writer. He also sits on the 2012 Ontario ParaSport Winter Games Committee. His email is: [email protected].
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