Quote:
Originally Posted by sempuki
The one where it's 2017 and we know brain damage doesn't heal like a broken bone. The hit was illegal, and late to boot. You'll get away with late hits all the time along the boards, but going for an open ice hit you need to be in control.
I don't care if Kase closed his eyes as he crossed the blue line, if you can't control your hit to make sure you're not causing permanent brain damage, you need to back off your hit. MacDermid poorly timed his hit and didn't line Kase up properly to ensure shoulder to shoulder. If he wants to ruin two careers he can make the hit. If he wants to just put himself out of position he can not make such a ####ty check in the first place.
This isn't about hurt feelings, it's about life long brain damage here.
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There is literally no way to control whether you give someone permanent brain damage other than to never, ever hit someone. Being that hockey is a contact sport, this is still going to happen from time to time regardless of whether or not it's a clean hit.
Guys, I hate that concussions occur, but they are somewhat random and can result from clean plays too. Some guys get rocked and never have even the slightest concern of a concussion. Others take a slight bump and are out for weeks to months. There is a LOT of variability in how and where concussions occur depending on the individual that is getting hit, but we have to be careful not to assign too much blame to players who are playing the game straight up. We've taken out the predatory hits to the head. We've largely removed fighting which was an unnecessarily routine exercise in head trauma. If we take out plays like MacDermid's then you have to consider making hockey a non-contact sport.
Contact creates the risk for concussions, full stop. Any contact, even clean contact, can create a concussion if the circumstances are right. Heck, even soccer players have a large risk for concussions and that's a sport where if you so much as breathe on an opponent you're given a yellow card.
If you're an athlete and you're very concerned about brain damage, try taking up golf instead. You still get paid pretty well and there's literally almost no risk of head trauma.