While I agree that headshots and concussions are a problem the league has to deal with, I hope they can manage to achieve this much needed goal without blunting some of the edge off the game.
As the great John Buccigross has written, "Hockey is a blood sport. It is played with a searing emotion most people can't empathize with unless they have played and lived the sport. Hockey is mostly difficult and frustrating. Which is why there is such an explosion of excitement whenever someone scores. Just about every goal is well-earned in some way. In this game, nothing comes cheap."
When Bucci refers to the game of Hockey here as a "blood sport," he is certainly not taking the perspective of some neanderthal wishing to see gladiatorial style combat upon the ice. He is putting into words the raw emotion and fury that inherently part of a hard hitting, high speed game played by rugged men.
It is not about the blood spilling out onto the ice after Steven Stamkos takes a puck to the face in Game 7 against the Bruins that draws us to the sport. It is him waving off the trainer, racing into the locker room, and returning less than five minutes later with a full cage guarding his now exploded nose and continuing on in the game without a second thought.
My instant response: a moment you can only have in the NHL playoffs.
At one time concussions were viewed in many circles the same way Stamkos’ broken nose was. Get some smelling salts, clear your head and get back out there for the next shift. The sport has learned the hard way that such a policy is reckless and dangerous for the safety and long term health of its participants.
It is right and proper that the NHL address hits to the head that lead directly to these concussions as a serious and dire matter. I implore the league however to be careful not to totally take away the mentality, the unquestioned willingness to sacrifice limbs in order to lift the Stanley Cup with heart and heart alone. Planting the seeds of doubt within the players would cheapen the game, cheapen the Stanley Cup, and lessen the impact of the sacrifice guys have spoken about for ages that it takes to win the Hardest Trophy in Sports.
My suggestion: target specifically blindside and direct hits to the head with harsher and automatic suspensions of 10 games for a 1st offense and escalate a scale from there. Fine the team that employees the offender on sliding scale as well. Leave the periphery stuff go. Players will adapt quickly to launching shoulders into chests rather than elbows into craniums. Scrappy, dirty stuff, like Alex Burrows biting Patrice Bergeron? Leave that kind of decision to the referees on the ice. Keep a hands off approach and let the player’s police themselves and send their own messages. Tell me that incident did not add an element of drama and edge to these Stanley Cup Finals. Having that edge is a good thing for the sport. Hockey is a game that needs to be played on the edge.
The fans who get into the game buy into this and understand such things. And they are your target audience NHL.
One of my favorite fan stories of this post season came from the “non-traditional” hockey market of Tampa Bay (there have been more Cups there than Toronto has had since ’67, just sayin).
Steven Paul, a Bolts season ticket holder was told by his Home Owner’s Associaton that his “GO BOLTS” sign in his yard was violation of the mandate within the neighborhood that no signage was allowed with the exception of security company signs. His response was the same as Stamkos flying back onto the ice for game 7. He pressed on in the face of clear and present danger with an edge to his game and a thin shield to guard himself from further ‘harm’:
"Protected By:
GO BOLTS
Security"
