Comments on: Accepting the role of violence in hockey

By: a2theory

a2theory — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:31:45 +0000

There are a lot of people who are willing to say that players like Cooke should be punished for hits that appear premeditated or perpetrated with intent to injure, then turn around and say you can’t ban head hits all together. The distinction is meaningless and clearly not the point. Authority does not distinguish between acts that are not intended to have consequence and those that do. We have rules in order to force players to consider the consequence of an action and then not perform that action. To say one incident is carried out with malice and the other an accident serves no point in the conversation. Either the act is “illegal” or not, intent should not play into the argument.

As for Hockey being a “rougher” sport. I’d argue it is more dangerous by way of opportunity to get hurt (stick injuries, skate injuries, board hits, etc.) but the argument for which sport is tougher is pointless. Both require the attribute of, at the very least, tolerating hits that have the potential to cause serious injury, however for every hockey game that has one hit to the head there 10 in a football game. And a football helmet doesn’t protect against concussions any better than a hockey helmet!

By: stakex

stakex — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:01:33 +0000

First of all, the NHL will never remove contact from the game. If they did, the sport would collapse and die, and they know that. This will never happen thankfully.

As for removing anything else that has an element of danger to it, such as fighting or headshots… the league needs to get a life. Every singl player in the NHL knows the danger of the sport when they step out on the ice, and no one is focing them to go out there and play. These players make a lot of money for the risks they take and I don’t feel bad for any of them. They chose to do it. Don’t want to risk injury? Don’t play the damn sport.

With that said I have nothing against small things that don’t change the game. Such as going back to the old style equipment, or stronger punishment for players like Matt Cooke who repeatedly make efforts to injure other players. Those are things that could make a huge difference in safty, without changing the game at all.

By: icelovinbrotha215

icelovinbrotha215 — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 23:32:16 +0000

The ‘violent’ nature of the game is part of hockey. The NHL needs to do everything possible to make it safer for the players (e.g. softer shoulder and elbow pads, wider rink, etc.).

By: sknut

sknut — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 23:20:04 +0000

It is a concern, as fans we are entertained then guys retire and they fade from our mind and can struggle with their lives due to the violence of the game. The other aspect that needs to be addressed is the players can control this, to a point. The league also needs to step in and ban the head shots. I think that most fans enjoy the physical play not the violent play, I realize that there is a fine line but smart fans can see the difference.

By: James O'Brien

James O'Brien — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 21:28:27 +0000

That’s perfectly fine?

By: capsrockva

capsrockva — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 21:08:01 +0000

what no answer for that??????????????????

By: capsrockva

capsrockva — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 21:06:57 +0000

I’ve already commented on Puckdaddy’s website

By: capsrockva

capsrockva — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 21:05:44 +0000

It just hit PHT about 2 minutes ago even though it was on puckdaddy about an hour ago

By: James O'Brien

James O'Brien — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 20:26:28 +0000

Expect to see a post on that Business Journal report in the very near future.

By: capsrockva

capsrockva — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 20:23:53 +0000

I agree completely. Matt Cooke is one of the dirtiest players in the game right now. btw from puckdaddy Should NHL expand to Houston? What about Honolulu?

By: capsrockva

capsrockva — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 20:21:04 +0000

professionally no backyard yes. Have you ever played Hockey?

By: hanktheking

hanktheking — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 19:48:23 +0000

Banning head shots would be virtually impossible, as the majority of them are plays that happen in a split second, a la Sidney Crosby, and ultimately unavoidable. There are certain plays and players, a la Matt Cooke on Ryan McDonagh, in which guys are deliberately trying to hit other guys in the head, and for these plays, i think the penalties need to be way more severe. The fact is that these guys are trying to injure others, and it takes away the civility of the game. In a sense, fighting does the same thing. I am a life long hockey fan and wouldn’t mind seeing fighting go, just to avoid albeit rare, but serious injuries.

When it comes to guys potentially ending other guys career’s on purpose, there should be zero tolerance for that in any sport.

By: trbowman

trbowman — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 19:07:37 +0000

You haven’t ever played football, have you?

By: capsrockva

capsrockva — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 18:46:34 +0000

I can see the head shots being banned in a few years,( which I not a fan of because of what it has done to the NFL) but then your basically turning Hockey into one of the wimp sports much like the NFL has done. The NFL is turning into a flag time game. Fighting is always gonna happen in hockey, especially if one of your teams stars suffer a bone crushing hit, the other team mates aren’t gonna stand for it. Hockey is a rough ass sport, in my opinion far more the football & hits are part of the game.