It is sad when gratuitous violence in hockey has become so frequent and normalized that it is no longer especially newsworthy. Columnists like Roy MacGregor of The Globe and Mail for example pen excellent articles entitled, ‘Enough talk about hockey violence – time for action’ but such pleas get drowned out by background noise and fall on deaf ears.
Since January 1, a 17 year old hockey player has been charged with aggravated assault in Edmonton after he speared an opponent with his stick after a stoppage in play, and two major junior hockey players (Marco Scandella and Patrice Cormier) have been suspended for the remainder of the season in separate incidents involving headshots.
Cormier’s hit to an unsuspecting Mikael Tam resulted in Tam becoming unconscious and convulsing on the ice. It can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgwCaxEB6-Y&feature=related
Politicians wring their hands of it. Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, himself a former hockey player at Princeton University, properly figures the National Hockey League should lead by example. Opposition Liberal MP Ken Dryden, a Hall of Fame NHL goalie and a lawyer like Mr. Flaherty, suggests leagues should impose a strict liability standard on headshots leaving it to the offending player to disprove the intent to injure and that lawsuits could spur future changes. Mr. Flaherty and Mr. Dryden dissociate the government and their parties from their views noting that they were speaking as individuals and nothing more.
Not to be outdone, New Democratic Party MP Glenn Thibeault wants a royal commission on violence in sports.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/taking-action-on-hockey-headshots/article1445350/
Meanwhile, the best hockey’s governing body can do is to have a summit meeting to talk about it some more. Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson is saying all the right things to encourage minor hockey to get its house in order otherwise unspecified measures may be implemented to regain control of the game.
None of this is new. Hockey is a violent game but the violence is getting out of control. Hockey players have been killed. Too many are getting hurt. Eight of the ten longest suspensions levied by the NHL have been in the 21st century. Players have been criminally convicted of assault. Civil lawsuits are not out of the ordinary.
It is time that gratuitous violence in hockey not be considered normal and that professional and amateur leagues stop talking and start doing something serious about it.
Kris is a Senior Lecturer, and Co-Director of the Centre for International Sports Law (CISL) at Staffordshire University, UK. He originally trained and competed as an elite gymnast until a shoulder injury at university forced him to retire as an active competitor. He now spends his spare time coaching Trampolining, Gymnastics, DMT, Cheerleading, Parkour and anything that involves throwing yourself through the air with various degrees of twist and rotation!
Jon is an Associate Professor, and Co-Director of the Centre for International Sports Law (CISL) at Thompson Rivers University, British Columbia. Jon worked as a climbing guide, trained and coordinated search and rescue, managed risk and sales in the United States with a European-based manufacturer of outdoor equipment and advised recreation programmes on their exposure to legal risk. His extra-curricular background is just as diverse and includes stints playing semi-pro volleyball in Brazil, researching wolves in the Canadian Rockies, climbing and leading expeditions from Alaska to Argentina, Tajikistan to the Tetons, and many points in between. He has been married to Wendy for 15 years and together they have 2 wonderful kids – Tegan (10) and Brock (8) – whom he continues to emotionally scar as their football coach!
February 26, 2010 at 02:44
Olympic Hockey 1 – NHL 0.
February 28, 2010 at 12:25
hockey world cup 2010 has been started in india
March 1, 2010 at 06:29
The US Hockey Team didn’t come out on top but we sure played good !
March 1, 2010 at 17:14
Well I was thinking the USA was going to pull it off last night, but the Canandians were a little to good for us. Good game Canada!
March 3, 2010 at 20:26
having just watched the Olympic ice hockey, and coming from a country where the violence in sports has been eliminated over time from rugby and Australian rules football, the solution is easy. Ice Hockey in North America need to elminate the violence by instituting rules similar to those used in Olympic Ice Hockey. Or they can even go even further, particularly in the junior levels, and go for immediate expulsion of the player from the game, regardless of who starts the fight, and a 4 minute period being down a player. having two minutes off the ice for fighting isn’t a sufficient deterrent…. the fact that the same players get in fights every game is the problem.
i hope that the NHL pulls their finger out and fixes the issue with fighting in Ice Hockey
April 7, 2010 at 07:44
I am delighted that Tiger Woods is back playing. It makes the game interesting once more.