{"id":40419,"date":"2017-11-16T08:00:15","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T15:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=40419"},"modified":"2021-02-07T22:39:27","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T05:39:27","slug":"its-time-to-get-tough-on-hockey-hits-to-the-head-ex-goalie-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2017\/11\/16\/its-time-to-get-tough-on-hockey-hits-to-the-head-ex-goalie-says\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s time to get tough on hockey hits to the head, ex-goalie says"},"content":{"rendered":"

F<\/span>ormer NHL goalie Ken Dryden spoke to a crowd of approximately 50 people at the Calgary Central Library Nov. 13, about head injuries in hockey.<\/p>\n

D<\/span>ryden\u2019s newest book, Game Change: The Life And Death of Steve Montador and the Future of Hockey<\/em>, discusses how head injuries are viewed in the game. It was released on Oct. 17.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some head hits that are completely unacceptable,\u201d said Dryden.<\/p>\n

The former Montreal Canadiens goalie said some of the distinctions between different kinds of head hits are \u201cludicrous,\u201d recalling an event in the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs, when Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang hit Marcus Johansson of the Washington Capitals.<\/p>\n

The following day, a panel on the SportsNet cable channel discussed whether Letang would face a suspension for his actions.<\/p>\n

Dryden explained that the panellists focused on Letang\u2019s performance and how the possible suspension would affect his hockey career, instead of focusing on the matter of a head injury.<\/p>\n

Dryden likened the exchange to a Monty Python skit in which Mr. Pralene, a customer, tries to return a dead parrot to the pet store, only to be met by denials that the bird has actually expired.<\/p>\n

“To Mr. Pralene, this isn\u2019t about a parrot who is stunned, dead, or pining. It\u2019s not about a Norwegian blue with beautiful plumage. This is about a dead parrot,” Dryden said.<\/p>\n

“For hockey, this isn\u2019t about a player having his head down, an opponent with an intent to rock him, or getting a freebie, or about the importance of Kris Letang,” said Dryden.<\/p>\n

“This is about hits to the head.”<\/p>\n

Dryden explained how the speed and intensity\u00a0 of NHL play has been steadily increasing over time, due to rink technology, increased ice time and shorter shifts.<\/p>\n

As a result, players have been seeing more ice time than ever before.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a kid watching the great Montreal Canadiens in the late 1950\u2019s, they had these great stars and the game moved a thousand miles an hour and that\u2019s to a 10-year-old,\u201d said Dryden.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until the 1980’s that Dryden went to the archives and realized how slow the game was in reality.<\/p>\n

Over time, the speed of the game has gradually outpaced the ability of players to react.<\/p>\n

As a result, players have to up their skill level, resulting in a game design that inadvertently increases the severity and threat of head injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cHockey was always the fastest game on earth. That\u2019s what it always described itself to be,\u201d said Dryden,<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there\u2019s fast, there\u2019s faster and there\u2019s faster still. When things speed up, often times what happens is that the rest of us can\u2019t speed up \u2013 we get clumsy.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his talk, Dryden offered a few suggestions on how the league could remedy, or lessen the frequency and severity of head hits.<\/p>\n

Shooting a puck over the glass, jabbing and high-sticking are all examples of automatic penalties and all are given without exception.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen these [penalties] were implemented, there were all kinds of arguments,\u201d said Dryden.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened in a couple of weeks, maybe a month? No arguments. Coach knows it happened, player knows it happened. Everyone adapted, the game went on, no big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dryden thinks that the same automatic penalties should be given for hits to the head, “whether the head was down, or up, targeted or not, intent to hurt or otherwise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe brain can\u2019t distinguish between a legal hit and an illegal hit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

You can find out more about Dryden’s book here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former NHL goalie is speaking out against the ignorance of concussions and the importance of head injuries in hockey. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":428,"featured_media":40420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S4 Concussion Talk","footnotes":""},"categories":[1585,1106,21,17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40419","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-image","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-junior-amateur-sports","8":"category-physical-health-and-wellness","9":"category-professional-sports","10":"category-sports","11":"post_format-post-format-image"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/428"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40419"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40958,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40419\/revisions\/40958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}