Headshots in Hockey

CBC News - The National - In Depth & Analysis - Hockey: Under Review  

Many players in all sports have been affected by a shot to the head, but mostly headshots have made them part of the game in hockey and football. Why those two sports? These are sure to be the earth’s toughest sports. Both include body contact.

These days the most discussed topic in the NHL is headshots and how to stop them. For the last few years there has been an outburst of concussions involving headshots. 

Last week I watched this video on CBC website. The video is about the 2011-12 NHL season. Cassie Campbell Pascall, Scotty Bowman, Ken Dryden, Elliotte Friedman and Peter Mansbridge discuss about: Fighting, headshots, and how some players are in the league just to fight. 

What should we do about headshots and also the NHL and NHLPA (National Hockey League Players Associations)?

       Following are the statistics of concussions in the 2010-11 season:

                                   

44% of concussions that were reported was caused by “legal hits”

31% of concussions were accidental

14% of concussions were caused by legal headshots

8% of concussions were caused by fighting

        Many hockey players have been affected by headshots and careers have shortened due to their concussions.

Here are few famous hockey players who have been affected by headshots:

      Sidney Crosby

Sidney Crosby was hit to the head by David Steckel on January 1, 2011, during the 2011 Winter Classic, Pittsburgh Penguins vs. the Washington Capitals at Heinz Field, Pittsburgh, PA. He was hit again to the head by Victor Hedman on January 5, 2011, in a Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Tampa Bay Lightning game at Pittsburgh, PA. Sidney Crosby missed about 11 months of playing hockey.

Paul Kariya

       Paul Kariya is one of the league’s Greatest Players. He is known for his speed and hockey skills. He has suffered a lot of concussions in his hockey career. He even has suffered 4 concussions in 3 years too! That’s not normal to suffer that many in such a short period of time and health wise that’s horrible. His first NHL concussion was in 4^th season from Mathieu Schneider while playing against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He had to force retirement due to post-concussion syndrome.

Current NHL Rules

       The current NHL rule for a Hit to the Head is contained in the 2011-12 Official NHL Rulebook in Rule 48. According to this rule:

Rule 48 - Illegal Check to the Head – A hit which is resulting contact to the other player’s head which is targeted. There are 5 penalties as follows:

·       Minor Penalty- 2 minutes in the penalty box will be handed out.

·       Major Penalty- 5 minutes in the penalty box will be handed out.

·       Game Misconduct Penalty- ejected from the game.

·       Match Penalty- ejected from the game.

·       Fines and Suspensions- player will serve 1+ games not playing in the hockey games or they will pay a certain amount of money.

The NHL will decide the rank of the headshot.

       Is the league doing all of that? My answer is no. Why? I’ve got few examples of league not giving out suspensions:

There was no suspension on that hit, but Lucic could have easily not checked Ryan Miller and cause a huge fight and the league was supposed to prevent those hits.

That hit was not needed at all. Steckel was looking at the puck where Crosby’s head was. The hit was Shoulder-to-Head Blind Side on Crosby.

          I think we should stop and get the idea that headshots should be out of all hockey leagues worldwide. The NHL should put a stop to all hits to the head, and any serious hits that can lead to concussions. The NHLPA should react to any sort of dangerous hits and the player should get a suspension. We should play safe hockey for fun and fitness.