NHL needs to get tougher on head hits, fighting

Posted Jan 5, 2012 By Jeff Maguire

EMC Editorial - If you are a National Hockey League fan the story of the year just ended is "post-concussion syndrome" and the loss of so many key players, led by superstar Sidney Crosby, as a result of head hits.

Clearly it is time this issue is dealt with far more seriously by the powers-that-be in the NHL and other contact sports as well.

Crosby is the most high-profile hockey player to be sidelined in recent times. But the list of similar situations, past and present, is lengthy and getting longer with every passing week.

Recently Philadelphia Flyers alone lost three players due to concussions. Veteran defenceman Chris Pronger will miss the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs, at the very least. Forward Claude Giroux, the former Gatineau Olympiques and Cumberland Grads junior star, is out indefinitely with the same complaint. Also sidelined is forward Brayden Schenn.

I hardly need to list everyone similarly affected. It would take a lot of space and you get the point I'm sure. Trying to reduce the number and severity of head hits has to move even higher on the NHL radar.

The reality is this problem has existed for many years. In part at least, concussions are a by-product of playing such a physical sport. I certainly recognize that fact!

Only recently however, especially in the wake of the Crosby injury has the matter really come to the fore. The recent recurrence suffered by the Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia native was the first item on the CTV national news the night it was announced!

Admittedly the NHL has taken steps aimed at addressing the problem, i.e. Brendan Shanahan and the NHL Safety Department. Ex-player Shanahan is the league's new disciplinarian and safety officer.

But the NHL may be forced to act even more decisively given recent happenings.

Just before Christmas it was announced that 21 former National Football League (NFL) players are suing the league after suffering severe and permanent brain damage resulting from concussions suffered during their playing days.

In the lawsuit the ex-players are alleging the NFL hid the effects of concussions and their long-term impact on the neurological system.

At almost the exact same time the Canadian Medical Association Journal, in a strongly worded editorial, urged an end to what it calls the "brutal tradition" of fighting and devastating body checks in hockey, saying research has proven head trauma causes progressive neurological damage.

The respected medical journal points to a growing body of evidence that athletes including hockey players and boxers suffered irreversible brain damage, a condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE.

A Boston University study of CTE examined the brains of 70 athletes including prominent hockey players including Bob Probert and Reggie Fleming, a long ago NHL enforcer. The study determined 50 of the athletes had "pathological evidence" of CTE.

The condition is associated with memory loss, Parkinsonism, behavioural and personality changes as well as speech and gait (balance) abnormalities.

OLD PROBLEM

Concussions have been a problem in the NHL for many years. They have temporarily or permanently sidelined a number of star players. Consider the fate of highly regarded Eric Lindros. An outstanding junior he did play 12 NHL seasons. But he was forced to retire early (in 2007 at age 34) due to post-concussion syndrome. The problem deprived the league of a superstar with potential for a much longer career.

Or consider former star forward Pat LaFontaine who is probably best known for his years with New York Islanders where he spent seven seasons. LaFontaine retired in 1999, also the victim of post-concussion syndrome. Like Lindros his career was badly affected and eventually cut short due to head hits. His first concussion, in 1990, was the result of a controversial open-ice check.

I admired LaFontaine and saw him play in person several times. But I distinctly recall people, including hockey writers and TV analysts, referring to him as "soft" because of his numerous injuries.

Soft! What an incredible insult. The man was seriously injured and who knows how his lifespan and that of so many other ex-NHLers will be affected by the head blows they suffered during their careers?

LaFontaine has spoken openly about his long and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to recover from post-concussion syndrome. He had no choice but to retire, which is terribly sad.

He says it is only the fact the NHL has recently announced steps to curb head hits that have allowed him to start watching games again.

In a November interview LaFontaine said, "I would cringe when I would see guys hit from behind or heads targeted, or guys carried off on stretchers.

"That's not the game - there is no honour in targeting a guy's head or a blindside hit."

He added, "It is great to see they (NHL) are cutting down on that."

Obviously no one knows better about this issue than Pat LaFontaine, a player who was so negatively affected by the problem.

But is the NHL really "cutting down" on head hits? Or are they simply paying lip service to the matter?

Personally I think that until fighting in the league is reduced or eliminated - both levels are achievable - post-concussion syndrome will continue to plague the sport. It will continue to deprive fans of star players for long periods or permanently in many cases. Who knows when, or if, Sidney Crosby will ever return to his previous form?

I have railed against fighting in the NHL before and I have taken lots of heat for it too. Evidently a lot of people watch hockey mainly because they hope to see a fight break out. It's sort of like people who watch NASCAR in hopes there will be a pile-up.

Rather sad in my opinion!

The Internet has opened up a whole new communications world of course. As a result my column is being read around the world, not just in Eastern Ontario.

A couple of years ago I wrote a piece deploring fighting in the NHL and suggesting more sanctions against it, if not the total elimination of this nonsense. I consider fighting in the NHL to be little more than a side show which is tacitly approved by the league hierarchy as they try to appeal to a certain demographic, mainly south of the border. After all the NHL is run by Americans based in New York City.

After that column my feeling was reinforced by some of the responses I received. One that stood out was an e-mail from a guy in Los Angeles who called me "a wozzie" for my stance against fighting.

To paraphrase he said something like "hockey is for real men."

Something tells me the nearest that chap ever got to a hockey game was sitting in the seats at Staples Center eating an ice cream and hoping for a punch-up.

SOME EXPERIENCE

At least I have the advantage of having played the game and suffering some of the consequences.

Admittedly I didn't excel at hockey, far from it. But like so many Canadians kids I played some minor hockey and I continued to play into my teens in what was then called Juvenile hockey as well as in the Town League (sportsman's hockey).

I was a good skater at the very least. But my last hurrah came when some imbecile drilled me from behind and drove me head first into the boards.

I wasn't knocked unconscious but I was woozy (not to be confused with wozzie) and it was a terrible feeling.

I can only imagine what NHLers like LaFontaine, Lindros and now superstar Sidney Crosby must have felt like after their injuries.

No, fighting and hockey are different sports. One takes place in the ring, the other on a sheet of ice. Time to stop confusing the two!

There is no question that punching someone in the head is bad for them. When it is a strapping great hockey player delivering the blow then the end result can't be good!

The first thing that happens in a hockey fight is that the protagonists drop their gloves and discard their helmets. Without a helmet they have deprived themselves of the only means they have to protect their heads. And where are the punches normally directed during hockey fights? You got it, right at the head!

Honestly, it is utter folly to have hockey players pummeling and injuring one another when they are supposed to be participating in a game.

Nothing will completely eliminate fights from occurring during a contact sport I realize that. Tempers will occasionally flare and that's a fact.

But if sufficient sanctions are in place it may just dawn on the majority of participants that a few minutes of ice ballet and a couple of shots to the kisser aren't worth four, five or 10 games in the stands and perhaps a substantial fine as well.

Of course fighting in hockey can be reduced and quickly. It should be too, if only to protect athletes from serious injuries such as concussion.

If head hits are going to be discouraged and/or eliminated, then good on the NHL. If the league is serious about protecting players from serious injuries including concussions caused by hits, it is also time to address the continued reality of fighting in hockey.

I agree with LaFontaine and others who have spoken out recently about this important issue. Head trauma must be reduced and one way to do that is by stopping the patently useless tradition of fighting in hockey.

The NHL should be trying to promote a fast moving, entertaining game. Players who are there primarily to fight don't belong!

If you have any comments or questions for Jeff Maguire he can be reached by e-mail at: jeffrey.maguire@rogers.com.