The Puck Stops Here: NHL Refuses To Ban Blows To The Head

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Posted on 20th March 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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The dust has settled on its meeting last week, and the bottom line is this: The National Hockey League has still refused to totally ban hits to the head.

The horrific concussions sustained by Sidney Crosby and Max Pacioretty didn’t sway the NHL. Air Canada and Via Rail’s theats to pull their ads didn’t do the trick, either.  

Sure, the league had decided to call for stricter enforcement of some current rules to ward against concussions.

NHL general managers at their gathering in Boca Raton, Fla., recommended that rules regarding  ”boarding” and “charging” be more strictly enforced, according to The New York Times. ”Boarding” is when a player throws an opponent into the wall surrounding the rink, while “charging” is when a player makes a deliberate move of more than two steps when bodychecking an opponent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/sports/hockey/16meetings.html?ref=hockey

At the meeting, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that a special committee was being formed to look into the idea of expanding Rule 48, which prohibits hits to the head and blows that aim for the head, to add in more strictures regarding hits to the skull. 

The aim, according to The Times, is to put a stop to players being hit in the head when they are vulnerable, and to stop opponents from using too-violent force.

The new committee is headed by Brendan Shanahan, an NHL vice president, and has three members. They are Bob Blake, who is described as Shanahan’s deputy; Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman; and Dallas general manager Joe Nieuwendyk.

The NHL did make one smart move, by instituting a new concussion protocol for players. Those went into effect last week. Now a player suspected of having a concussion while on the ice will be examined immediately by the team doctor. That exam will be conducted in a room away from the rink, and will take at least 15 minutes.

This protocol, according to The Times, “has drawn praise from brain trauma specialists.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/sports/hockey/17meetings.html?_r=1&ref=hockey&pagewanted=all

In the aftermath of last week’s meeting, even NHL GMs who supported a complete barring of head checks seemed satisfied that the league is moving in the right direction, according to The Times.

About a half dozen general managers are in favor of a total ban on hits to the head, rules that are in effect in the Ontario Hockey League, for example.     

Why not here?

 

 

 

Will NHL General Managers Do The Right Thing Regarding Concussions?

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Posted on 12th March 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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National Hockey League general managers will be on the hot seat next week, pressured to put more teeth into a new rule regarding checks to the head, according to The New York Times.  

http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/general-managers-likely-to-address-hits-to-head/?ref=sports

The GMs, who are holding their annual meeting in Florida, are not likely to ban hits to the head, The Times speculated. But they are expected to make Rule 48, which the GMs devised at their meeting last year, more stringent. Rule 48 bars blindside hits to the head and checks that target the head.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman back in January deemed Rule 48 a success, because even though there were slightly more concussions in pro hockey this season those caused by head shots were down. 

But that was then and this is now.

Since then, Canadiens’ Max Pacioretty sustained a concussion after being slammed into a stanchion by Boston Bruin Zdeno Chara. The late hockey enforcer Bob Probert was found to have been suffering from a degenerative brain disease that’s been blamed on repeated head injuries. And NHL player Sidney Crosby has been off the ice for two months after being hit in the head and suffering a concussion.

Most recently, Air Canada has threatened to pull its NHL sponsorship if the league doesn’t crack down on violence.

Let’s see what the GMs do.      

Air Canada, And Concussions, Don’t Scare NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman

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Posted on 11th March 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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What kind of a fool is National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman? Decide for yourself.

The New York Times reported Friday that Air Canada, which sponsors the six NHL Canadian teams, threatened to pull its support of the league if it didn’t crack down on violence on the ice.  

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/sports/hockey/11hits.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

“There have been “a number of incidents regarding head shots and concussions this past season which have resulted in widespread public concern which we share,” Air Canada said in its letter to the NHL, The Times reported. If the NHL doesn’t take action by suspending players, Air Canada said it will withdraw its sponsorship.

But that missive didn’t appear to rattle Bettman, who doesn’t seem to share Air Canada’s concerns about the safety of NHL hockey players.

Bettman has glibly said, according to The Times, that while Air Canada “is a great brand,” it is the airline’s prerogative to spend its sponsorship dollars where ever it wants — just like is is the NHL’s prerogative to use another airline. 

No, the NHL will not let the threat of losing some ad dollars force it to stop hockey players from beating each other bloody.

In fact, The Times story also talked about the incident Tuesday when Boston Bruin player Zdeno Chara pushed Montreal Canadiens player Mac Pacioretty into a stanchion. Pacioretty had to be carted off to the hospital suffering from a concussion and a fractured vertebrae.

Was Chara suspended? Of course not.

But the Montreal police are not being as cavalier as the NHL. They have launched an investigation into Chara’s assault on Pacioretty at the request of  Quebec’s director of criminal and penal prosecutions, according to The Times.   

The newspaper recently reported that one of the NHL’s most feared enforcers and fighters, the late Bob Probert, was found to have been suffering from the same degenerative brain disease that has been discovered in pro football players. 

It seems that little discovery hasn’t made Bettman give any more thought to the safety, and future health, of his players.

Researchers Suspect Brawling Left A Mark On Ex-NHL Player’s Brain

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Posted on 4th March 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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The revelation this week that deceased ex-National Hockey League player Bob Probert had degenerative brain disease has sparked a debate, a rather ridiculous one, about whether fighting should be banned from the ice. Of course it should.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/sports/hockey/03fighter.html?_r=

Probert, known as an enforcer and vicious brawler, died of a heart attack last July. The New York Times ran a Page One story Thursday on Probert, which was headlined “Hockey Brawlier Paid Price, With Brain Trauma.”

The article was illustrated with a color photo that was difficult to look at: Probert, bright red blood gushing from his forehead, fighting with another player as a young boy in the stands smiles broadly as he watches the action.

A test conducted on Probert’s brain tissue by Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy determined that the veteran NHL player had that degenerative brain disease, which has also been found in the brains of more than 20 deceased ex-National Football League players.

The question is whether Probert’s brain damage was caused by just playing hockey, or by the many brawls where he got hit or punched in the head.

Before he died, Probert had exhibited some of the symptoms of brain injury, such as memory loss and angry outbursts. This season alone at lesst NHL players sustained concussions as a result of the fights they had with rival players. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/sports/hockey/03hockey.html?ref=

But players are telling The Times not to blame brawling for the degenerative brain disease, but rather blame the game, where players get slammed now onto the ice.

The Times ran a sidebar, headlined “Many in NHL View Fighting ss Necessary,” that said that some believe that fighting is “a deterrent against cheap shots, a safety valve against more serious mayhem and something that fans like to watch.”

So under that logic hockey players should continue punching each other in the head, giving each other concussions, for the enjoyment of the crowd? Folks like that young boy in the photo, for example? 

In a third story on the topic, this one published on Friday, the newspaper interviewed an ex-NHL enforcer, Marty McSorley, who was once convicted of assault for hitting another player in the had with his stick. McSorley was also suspended for a year after that incident, which derailed his career.

McSorley, who sustained various concussions during his career, now suffers from memory loss and other signs of brain damage. Yet he argues that it was playing, not fighting, that caused his brain injury.   

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/sports/hockey/04hockey.html?ref=

Pardon us, but how can NHL playesr and officials say that fighting is a necessity for the game, or that landing blows to another man’s head isn’t going to cause concussions?