NHL PRIORITY: THE KNEE IS MIGHTIER THAN THE BRAIN!
Peter Andrew Sacco, Ph.D.
February 24, 2007
This is one of those opinionated days where I am going to comment on what has been on many hockey fans’ minds over the last couple of days… The knee is mightier than the brain! Given what happened a couple of days ago with the legal hit Ottawa Senators’ Chris Neil put on Buffalo Sabres co-captain Chris Drury, this is all hockey fans are talking about.
For starters, the hit appeared to be legal. It was not an elbow to Drury’s head, rather a shoulder. With that said, the hit was definitely a cheap shot! Drury was vulnerable and there was a time delay of nearly 1.5 seconds from the time Drury passed the puck and the time Neil nailed him while Drury was in a vulnerable position. The most disturbing aspect of the hit was its nature. How can you knowingly hit a player in a vulnerable position knowing you will cause him harm? Is nothing sacred? I’m sorry, but a hockey player is a member of the hockey player’s union which strives for equality and safety. Also, how in the world does the NHL continually tolerate this barbarianism?
I am a diehard hockey fan and have played the sport. I am old school. I like games with hitting, hard checking and of course skilled talent. I also think fighting is not bad for the sport as I believe it has always been a part of the game. What I can’t tolerate are the blows to the head. The Drury hit was just another one in the long line of head shots this year and last. When will the NHL get it that someone is going to get severely maimed or killed from a blow to the head?
Prior to the 1980’s, many players still were hatless in the league. Most chose not to wear helmets. Also, prior to the 1980’s there were much fewer concussions because there were less blows to the head. Players respected another’s health. Since then, helmets have been mandated as has the increased size, strength and durability of the gladiator type of equipment worn by players. The equipment from yester-year was soft and pliable compared to the rock hard equipment warn today. Add to it the speed of the game has increased as has the size of hockey players and you have a recipe for injury when you use elbow pads or shoulder pads to launch yourself like a ballistic missile at another player, especially when that player is not expecting the hit!
The NHL is the only contact sport which seems to not take blows to the head serious enough. I just cannot understand why! NFL football which is an even rougher more barbaric sport doesn’t tolerate blows to another player’s head. What gives in the NHL?
It seems a greater priority is placed on the protection of hockey players’ knees. Why are knees at a higher premium? I realize knees are needed to skate, but isn’t the head also needed? Does the NHL view the bounty on kneeing more catastrophic than head hunting? Does the NHL believe it can only protect one body part? Gee, the NFL also protects knees as well as heads. Chop blocking and leg whipping are illegal!
I must say I am at a loss for why the brain is not as valuable a commodity as knees are in the NHL. Rarely am I ever at a loss, but this is one of those monumental, humbling moments. I do have one theory, albeit it doesn’t hold a heck of a lot of water but hey, at least I have tried to come up with some cause-effect scenario which might explain when knees replaced heads as priority number one in the NHL.
Bobby Orr is considered to be the greatest hockey player to ever wear a pair of skates in the NHL. Even though I was young at the time, I was still lucky enough to see him play. By all accounts he could do it all. He was the complete deal! By today’s standards, no one compares to Orr, not even the retired Wayne Gretzky or Sidney Crosby. Orr had to retire in the very prime of his career because of guess what? If you said concussion problems, then you are wrong! Orr had to have one too many knee surgeries which eventually did him in. What you get is the greatest player whose career was cut short by knee injuries. NHL needs great player. Great player lost because of bad knee. NHL becomes conditioned to believe knee injuries are public enemy number one as it cost them Bobby Orr. Many executives in the NHL today were from Orr’s generation. Many equated “kneeing” as taboo and sacrilegious to the sport which cost them their hockey god! Many still have their minds conditioned to think kneeing is the worst assault a player can deliver. Their minds are preoccupied with kneeing. I wonder if these executives worry about getting kneed under the table when they have their meetings? Perhaps if another executive was to “accidentally” elbow them in the head, sorry make that “shoulder” them in the head, just maybe they might finally get it!
For starters, the hit appeared to be legal. It was not an elbow to Drury’s head, rather a shoulder. With that said, the hit was definitely a cheap shot! Drury was vulnerable and there was a time delay of nearly 1.5 seconds from the time Drury passed the puck and the time Neil nailed him while Drury was in a vulnerable position. The most disturbing aspect of the hit was its nature. How can you knowingly hit a player in a vulnerable position knowing you will cause him harm? Is nothing sacred? I’m sorry, but a hockey player is a member of the hockey player’s union which strives for equality and safety. Also, how in the world does the NHL continually tolerate this barbarianism?
I am a diehard hockey fan and have played the sport. I am old school. I like games with hitting, hard checking and of course skilled talent. I also think fighting is not bad for the sport as I believe it has always been a part of the game. What I can’t tolerate are the blows to the head. The Drury hit was just another one in the long line of head shots this year and last. When will the NHL get it that someone is going to get severely maimed or killed from a blow to the head?
Prior to the 1980’s, many players still were hatless in the league. Most chose not to wear helmets. Also, prior to the 1980’s there were much fewer concussions because there were less blows to the head. Players respected another’s health. Since then, helmets have been mandated as has the increased size, strength and durability of the gladiator type of equipment worn by players. The equipment from yester-year was soft and pliable compared to the rock hard equipment warn today. Add to it the speed of the game has increased as has the size of hockey players and you have a recipe for injury when you use elbow pads or shoulder pads to launch yourself like a ballistic missile at another player, especially when that player is not expecting the hit!
The NHL is the only contact sport which seems to not take blows to the head serious enough. I just cannot understand why! NFL football which is an even rougher more barbaric sport doesn’t tolerate blows to another player’s head. What gives in the NHL?
It seems a greater priority is placed on the protection of hockey players’ knees. Why are knees at a higher premium? I realize knees are needed to skate, but isn’t the head also needed? Does the NHL view the bounty on kneeing more catastrophic than head hunting? Does the NHL believe it can only protect one body part? Gee, the NFL also protects knees as well as heads. Chop blocking and leg whipping are illegal!
I must say I am at a loss for why the brain is not as valuable a commodity as knees are in the NHL. Rarely am I ever at a loss, but this is one of those monumental, humbling moments. I do have one theory, albeit it doesn’t hold a heck of a lot of water but hey, at least I have tried to come up with some cause-effect scenario which might explain when knees replaced heads as priority number one in the NHL.
Bobby Orr is considered to be the greatest hockey player to ever wear a pair of skates in the NHL. Even though I was young at the time, I was still lucky enough to see him play. By all accounts he could do it all. He was the complete deal! By today’s standards, no one compares to Orr, not even the retired Wayne Gretzky or Sidney Crosby. Orr had to retire in the very prime of his career because of guess what? If you said concussion problems, then you are wrong! Orr had to have one too many knee surgeries which eventually did him in. What you get is the greatest player whose career was cut short by knee injuries. NHL needs great player. Great player lost because of bad knee. NHL becomes conditioned to believe knee injuries are public enemy number one as it cost them Bobby Orr. Many executives in the NHL today were from Orr’s generation. Many equated “kneeing” as taboo and sacrilegious to the sport which cost them their hockey god! Many still have their minds conditioned to think kneeing is the worst assault a player can deliver. Their minds are preoccupied with kneeing. I wonder if these executives worry about getting kneed under the table when they have their meetings? Perhaps if another executive was to “accidentally” elbow them in the head, sorry make that “shoulder” them in the head, just maybe they might finally get it!
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