Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild GM
I think he'll get one game and I don't have a problem with it. I don't think there was any intent, but I think in order for the sport to take concussions and head shots as seriously as it needs to be - you will see, from time to time, someone get a game or two even when it was perhaps more the fault of the "hittee" for putting themselves in a vulnerable position.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild GM
Eventually it probably gets pretty close to this. Sports is going to have to evolve and move beyond a lot of the physicality that is part of it today.
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Respectfully, I disagree. There needs to be some responsibility taken by players for their OWN safety on the ice by not putting themselves in dangerous situations in key areas of the ice. With more and more focus on the "home plate area" around the league, I think any player should expect bodily contact if they skate into that area. I also think defenders need to be given the ability to defend that area physically, because there's so little they can do as it is with all the restrictions to other types of defending (stick checking/hooking, pushing guys out of an area is now interference etc.).
Now I've moved away from my previously held beliefs that fighting was a necessary part of the game, but hockey can be somewhat chaotic at times and fights will still happen in the flow of the game. Same can be said for head contact, probably more so because of the accidental nature of plays like Gio's. You can't police chaos, and you certainly can't eliminate head contact from the game altogether. Call a penalty in the game for illegal contact to the head if you will, but a suspension on a play like this sends the wrong message. I think it actually hurts the integrity of the game by telling defenders they don't have a right to their own ice. Basically you would have him do a whole bullfighter olé and attempt to take the puck off his stick with a stick check. Gio had a right to his ice, and he stood his ground. He didn't do anything dirty or intentional.
This is coming from someone who is deeply concerned about concussion issues in all pro sports, but when guys are skating around so fast, all it takes is a lost edge and guys will go tumbling into the boards. Do we put padding on the boards to eliminate concussion risk in that situation? At some point you have to understand the inherent risk of a sport. It's not as though this is a player targeting a head or punching him repeatedly in a fight. This is a hockey play that resulted in unfortunate contact, nothing more.