Thursday, November 06, 2008
Flames Game Day
Preds @ Flames, 730PM MT. Kent will be live-blogging tonight, so that's the place to be.
Particularly on the heels of yesterday's media criticism, I thought I'd point to Bruce Dowbiggin's excellent feature today in the Herald about head injuries. As I've written many times before, player safety is not my hill to charge, but I have to say, the quotes from Keith Primeau are pretty disquieting.
My own take is basically the same as Larry Brooks', italics mine:
Really. Contemplating penalties or suspensions for hits like Doug Weight's is putting the cart before the horse, when the league can't bring itself to hand out more than a 2-game suspension for a hit from behind -- which is already illegal -- that knocks someone out for the season. Or to hand out any suspension at all for an appalling head shot away from the puck -- also already illegal -- simply because the victim wasn't knocked cold.
If you start throwing the book at guys who commit illegal head shots, will we lose some of the legal crash & bang element of the game today? Probably. And I suspect that in 10 or 20 years, the hockey establishment will be looking back with disbelief at how long it took to decide they could live with that.
Calgary 4 (Boyd x2, GlenX, Giordano)
Nashville 2 (Arnott & Weber)
Go Flames.
Particularly on the heels of yesterday's media criticism, I thought I'd point to Bruce Dowbiggin's excellent feature today in the Herald about head injuries. As I've written many times before, player safety is not my hill to charge, but I have to say, the quotes from Keith Primeau are pretty disquieting.
My own take is basically the same as Larry Brooks', italics mine:
The NHL should debate outlawing all hits to the head. But first, the NHL must enforce the regulations that already exist.
Really. Contemplating penalties or suspensions for hits like Doug Weight's is putting the cart before the horse, when the league can't bring itself to hand out more than a 2-game suspension for a hit from behind -- which is already illegal -- that knocks someone out for the season. Or to hand out any suspension at all for an appalling head shot away from the puck -- also already illegal -- simply because the victim wasn't knocked cold.
If you start throwing the book at guys who commit illegal head shots, will we lose some of the legal crash & bang element of the game today? Probably. And I suspect that in 10 or 20 years, the hockey establishment will be looking back with disbelief at how long it took to decide they could live with that.
Calgary 4 (Boyd x2, GlenX, Giordano)
Nashville 2 (Arnott & Weber)
Go Flames.
# posted by Matt @ 3:58 pm 
Comments:
I'm sure the lack of suspension for Pronger has nothing to do with his boss being a former NHL head office hack. *cough*
Hey hey hey... Brian Burke doesn't get any special treatment from the league office just because he used to work there, or because he bitches the loudest both preemptively and in response to anything. Who could possibly be intimidated by his gentle and respectful manner?
I'm sure the lack of suspension for Pronger has nothing to do with his boss being a former NHL head office hack.
If you know of a time where Pronger was recommended for a suspension through official channels and was not suspended, I'd be happy to hear about it.
So far as I know, it hasn't happened while he's been in a Ducks uniform.
Well, there's the thing Earl... this is why I hate getting into this stuff. Pronger shouldn't be singled out. A variation of that play occurs pretty often. However, it seems clear enough to me that letting something like that go cannot possibly be reconciled with the league's alleged concern about hits to the head.
I'm basically with Rutherford; the league should really stop saying they're concerned.
Post a Comment
<< Home
I'm sure the lack of suspension for Pronger has nothing to do with his boss being a former NHL head office hack. *cough*
Hey hey hey... Brian Burke doesn't get any special treatment from the league office just because he used to work there, or because he bitches the loudest both preemptively and in response to anything. Who could possibly be intimidated by his gentle and respectful manner?
I'm sure the lack of suspension for Pronger has nothing to do with his boss being a former NHL head office hack.
If you know of a time where Pronger was recommended for a suspension through official channels and was not suspended, I'd be happy to hear about it.
So far as I know, it hasn't happened while he's been in a Ducks uniform.
Well, there's the thing Earl... this is why I hate getting into this stuff. Pronger shouldn't be singled out. A variation of that play occurs pretty often. However, it seems clear enough to me that letting something like that go cannot possibly be reconciled with the league's alleged concern about hits to the head.
I'm basically with Rutherford; the league should really stop saying they're concerned.
Post a Comment
<< Home
