PSP is of the opinion that the IIHF rules regarding hits to the head create situations that put players at a greater risk of injury.

I disagree wholeheartedly with that assessment.

This is extremely difficult to gauge, because nearly every head shot looks predatory.

That's because 90% of open ice hits occur on unexpecting players. It's very difficult to line up a player on open ice if they know you're coming.

Someone could see an opportunity to throw an open ice hit, line a guy up and move towards him, only to have the player twist or move unexpectedly at the last moment and put himself in an even more vulnerable position.

The hitter would be looked at as a dirt bag for lining a guy up like that if it results in injury, when he's really trying to make a clean hit.

I don't support rules that promote the ability to become more relaxed about contact. I think it's important to force players to keep their heads up and on a swivel for their own safety.

When you look down, your head becomes the point on your body that sticks the furthest out forward, especially on ice skates. That's why it's already difficult to make open ice hits clean.



There's a proper hockey stance. If he were to drop his head, and someone were to try to hit him straight on, how is the hitter supposed to make contact with the body first?

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Wheelhouse

You don't have to continue to debate your point. Nothing you can say will change my opinion.

Your assertion that rules against hits to the head somehow promotes players to skate around checking out their skate laces make no sense to me whatsoever.

Whatever. Let's continue to let people do whatever they want with impunity, because clearly that's been an effective strategy. The IIHF is clearly in the wrong trying to protect the players from needless concussions from irresponsible checking.

I'm not trying to convince you, Squanto. But with you saying you wholeheartedly disagree, I just want to make sure I'm being clear about my points so people don't think I'm an idiot.

Fact of the matter is, players WILL look down at the puck more as they stickhandle if they think they can't get hit while doing it. I've seen it in non checking leagues, and I see it in the IIHF.

There HAS to be a better solution.

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Wheelhouse

PSP, nobody is a bigger proponent of expanding rules to allow maximum hitting in sports than me, but you're too far out even for my tastes. I just can't accept blaming the victim when a player intentionally delivers potentially lethal head shots to unsuspecting skaters. We shouldn't apologize for these acts, we should suspend them for harsh lengths of time, and expel them from the game if they do it repeatedly and flagrantly enough.

They should take each hit case-by-case, of course. Make it subject to interpretations of intent and degree of damage, but to just say the victim is guilty of bad posture which allowed him to be attacked by a flying elbow to the head from the blindside is very naive and misguided.

Guess we gotta agree to disagree.

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Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me, I must be a hell of a man. Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doin' the best that I can.

I don't necessarily wholeheartedly agree with PSP, but I do think that there are some players that take advantage of headshot rules to basically play like idiots.

Take Kaleta's boarding of Ross earlier this year. Ross saw the hit coming and turned to face the boards. Rather than take the hit, he essentially put himself in a position to get boarded.

I think a case by case examination is best. In most cases you will punish the hitter because they were throwing a cheap shot. However this would also allow you to take some of those "victims" and say hey, don't play hockey like a moron and turn and bend over along the boards when a guy is bearing down on you.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

I think any hit lead by an elbow should be a penalty. Period. It's a rule. Elbowing. Which is already in place, in the forms of minor, double minor, and major penalties.

Referees have failed to utilize this penalty on those types of hits.

The hits I'm talking about are the shoulder to head hits, where a player does exactly what he's taught to do when delivering a hit by lining up a player as center as possible, and getting low.

I don't think you can fault players for delivering those hits, because they're separating player from puck in a legal fashion.

Campbell's hit on Umberger was clean, because Umberger is much taller than Campbell and his shoulder landed at the chest, as you can see below:



Had Campbell been just slightly taller, he would have been crucified for making this hit, because it would have been shoulder to head.

There's a fine line. If you put that head shot rule into place, not only are players going to feel more comfortable with taking extra time to look down, but you're going to discourage contact on open ice. Neither of those things would be good for hockey.

Again, I'll agree to disagree. I just want to make sure I'm being clear, because I do believe this is a serious issue, and I don't want to see people get hurt. I just have a different opinion about how to approach it.

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Wheelhouse

Actually... I'd say that Umberger does get hit with a shoulder to the head.

check out the attatchment

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When I was a boy I spoke as a boy, I understood as a boy, and I thought as a boy; when I became a man I took that boy outside and shot him.

PSP, while an inadvertent head shot happens, and should be taken into consideration when reviewing for suspensions, I see absolutely no justifiable reason for a player to ever intentionally deliver a head shot. Even a player who is careless in the middle of the zone, head down and all, can still get the living shit knocked out of him without the attacker ever delivering a wicked, direct, intentional blow to the brain.

Break the guy's ribs, separate his collar bone, hell, leave your feet to deliver a crushing hip check to the sternum for all I care, but the brain should never be a legal target.

As I said, accidents happen and should be taken into account, but there is never an acceptable reason to intentionally go for the kill shot to the brain.

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Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me, I must be a hell of a man. Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doin' the best that I can.

I'm 6' 2" off skates, close to 6' 5" on them. I've been able to whack plenty of little greasy 5'8" bastards without hitting them above the shoulders.

I'm certainly no professional. If I can do it, the pros certainly can.

I don't think PSP's stance is that there are ever justifiable headshots, its that some headshots occur because the hitter ie being cheap and some occur because the hitee is being a moron, and the officials need to be able to distinguish and fine accordingly.

I mean seriously, if a player you sees a guy coming and turns so he's bending over facing the boards and gets boarded, that's his own damn fault.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

And without being a professional, you also don't have to adjust accordingly when you collide at nearly 30 miles per hour.

They do.

When you hit someone who isn't paying attention straight on, it's nearly impossible to do it without contacting their head in some way.

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Wheelhouse

i'm guessing you are talking about that hit on hiller by nash with no penalty called. As well ovechkin has brought his knee up checks to the olympics. so lets see how long it takes for them to get banned here. I mean it looks like it is an intent to injure. here i'll put my knee up to hit you in the groin. or i'll land my knee into your goalies head because we are supposed to win the gold and if we have to play dirty we will play dirty.

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"Tis The Season, Fa la la la la LaFontaine" - Rick Jeanneret

It wasn't one specific play, but that one was iffy too.

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Wheelhouse

Nash does not strike me as the kind of player who would intentionally run a goalie in any situation. He lost an edge going to the net and slid into Hiller. These plays happen in hockey.

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So what is everyone complaining about. Crashing the net gets goals. Getting goals wins the game. Its the defenceman's job to stop a player from hitting his goalie. As for Nash last night, he may have lost an edge but he definitely could have avoided Hiller's head.

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Driver of the Tyler Ennis Bandwagon, Ridin' shotgun on the Tyler Myers Bandwagon, chillin' on the Luke Adam Bandwagon


Eh