So, another sickening hit on the weekend delivered to Marc Savard has started the chatter again on headshots in hockey. I personally don't like the term "headshots"; sometimes they aren't even "shots" at all, sometimes it's a clean hit gone horribly wrong. But, that's what everyone's calling it, and really I'm wasting time discussing semantics.
It baffles me how people can sit there and defend hits to the head, in any capacity. You elbow a guy in the head, that's a 2 minute minor for elbowing, even if the intent wasn't there. You hit a guy in the head with a stick, even if you didn't mean to, that's high sticking, and sometimes it even gets you 4 minutes in the box. You drive a guy's head into the boards, again, intent is not a factor, that's a boarding call and most times that's 5 minutes in the box. So how can there be any doubt that a hit to the head from the body of another player (shoulder, forearm, whatever), however accidental, would constitute at least a minor penalty???
To me, it doesn't even make sense how these calls aren't ALREADY being made. The NHL has a cover-all call for dangerous play. It's called roughing. At the very least, shouldn't some of these hits be called for a roughing violation? These days, roughing seems to be reserved to people getting pissed off after a whistle has been blown...but that's another blog perhaps.
Now, I never played hockey growing up (give me a break, I was born and raised in Australia :P) but I did play contact sports. I played a lot of rugby and Aussie Rules football to be more specific. Any contact to the head was an automatic penalty, and if the referee deemed it to be intentional or particularly wreckless, that player would get sent off (the Australian equivalent of "ejected from the game") AND receive an automatic 1 game suspension with the option for further discipline (keep in mind they only play once per week).
And no, hockey is not rugby, or any other sport. But how can the gap be so WIDE when it comes to head contact, even just within the NHL rules? Something needs to be done.
I appreciate your comments/thoughts on this issue.
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Finally a new post mate. ;P
ReplyDeleteWell, NHL has always been the "tough" league, and I'm not pissed off about the "non-calls" sometimes. To be honest - I was so pissed @ some calls @ the Olympics. Remember when one of the Latvian players just lifted his stick and puck that hit it went over the glass ? THEY CALLED IT A UNSPORTSMANLIKE AND A GAME MISCONDUCT. I saw NO intention there - None. I mean.. that's a Joke. See how McGoof is screwing the Blues and the Oilers on youtube - that is a BAD call. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAMiZ0vcE4Q
The league should watch all the hit situations separate - I mean... you can't compare one hit to the other because it isn't the same. There are all kinds of refs also. Noone said the game would be fair - and in a lot of games... sad to say, but it isn't.