The Hitting Game

The Hockey Tattler

Vol. I, No. 14

March 11, 2010

The hockey world is agog at the NHL Governing Board (the General Managers of each team) meeting just concluded in sunny Florida. The sun must have baked some brains down there, because the hockey ruling powers have decided that decapitation is now to be frowned upon just a wee little bit. What will this sport become? Fans won't get to see players laid out on the ice, with potential life-threatening injuries.

If you don't know what this is all about, try googling Matt Cooke and Marc Savard. They collided on Sunday March 7. Savard lost. Consciousness, that is, and maybe the rest of the season with a Grade 2 concussion. It's not the first time that Cooke has leveled another player, aiming for the head. When you do that, there is intent to injure. It's not a hip check, a body check or a stick check. It's a crazy head check, in more ways than one.

There is supposed to be no such thing in hockey as a head check. The head has nothing directly to do with puck control. Unlike soccer, heading the puck is generally reserved only for goalies, when their mask gets in the way of a high shot. Of course, in Old Tyme hockey, Terry Sawchuck and Jacques Plante were proud of the hundreds of stitches obtained from stopping pucks with their noggin. But players don't direct the puck with their heads, unless they get unlucky.

Don't tell that to Matt Cooke, who seems to like launching

upwards with a shoulder to the chin, jaw, temple, whatever. Hey, it works. The Penguins won the game 2-1. And what does the NHL do for this amazing infraction? Cooke gets a NO game suspension. That's right, no suspension at all. Most of the hockey world wonders what it will take for Colin Campbell and the gang to mete out a season suspension. Will someone have to be murdered on the ice?

Well, fans should not worry about the future. The NHL Governing Board has now adopted a new rule about head hits. Here it is, from NHL.com:

The following language was agreed to unanimously by the group: "A lateral, back pressure or blindside hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or the principal point of contact is not permitted. A violation of the above will result in a minor or major penalty and shall be reviewed for possible supplemental discipline."

So, aiming for the brain will result in a minor or major penalty. I can just see that stopping Matt Cooke now. 2 or 5 minutes, in exchange for eliminating another player on the opposing side for the period, game or season. And the supplemental discipline? Colin Campbell will look at precedent and decide again to forget about the suspension.

Yes, the NHL sure is committed to its players' safety. The next time that Gary Bettman talks about the Olympics and the danger of players getting injured - just keep in mind what the NHL permits right in its own house. Maybe the players association will try to do some self-policing. The owners don't seem to give a damn, so long as the seats get filled.

Hockey Rules (but sometimes the rules just don't seem right).