With all the recent talk about concussions in professional sports, and the increased attention to head shots in the NHL, here is a simple solution. Let’s go ‘Old School’.
This idea was prompted by some recent events in the NHL, and memories from my spotty youth playing and watching hockey in Peterborough, Ontario.
The recent events were actions by two meatheads, Raffi Torres and Zac Rinaldo, who have a history of delivering unnecessary head shots to opponents. The memories come from the hockey games watched on Hockey Night in Canada in the ’70s and ’80s, where greats like Bobby Clarke and Darryl Sittler showed their incredible talent and toughness.
Hockey in the NHL has always been a rough game, played by very tough men. Watch any old hockey video and you’ll see that these guys were not afraid to deliver a body-check or ride an opponent into the boards. Those elements of the game haven’t changed in the very long history of the sport. What has changed is the equipment.
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Helmets and masks were finally introduced, and eventually mandated by the league. Improvements in skate, stick and overall equipment technology has advanced incredibly, and continues to do so. All of that is great for the speed and excitement of the game, as well as the safety and comfort of the players.
One piece of that improved equipment, though, is contributing to both the number of vicious hits we see in every game, and the increasing number of serious concussions and head injuries that the NHL has to deal with. That piece of equipment is the shoulder pad.
Old-School Hockey
Back in the day, the players wore as little as they could, while still covering those vital areas that could be hit by a puck or stick. Reinforced skates and thick shin pads for those blocked shots. Thick gloves for the slashing sticks and flying pucks. Helmets (sometimes) and elbow pads for when they fell on the ice. And finally, thin and light shoulder pads to protect their shoulder joints.
What this combination of equipment led to was a fast, hard-hitting game, that had all the excitement we look for in our modern NHL, but less injuries from body checks and hits to the head. The reason for this is twofold.
First, with this light level of protection, players were less likely to run as hard as they could into another player of similar or larger size because it would hurt them almost as much. If you’ve never played hockey before you may not believe it, but take it from experience at all levels of hockey, from pee wee to an over-35 league. Running into another well equipped hockey player at full stride, against the boards or in open ice, hurts you almost as much as the other guy.
Second, by and large the players of those eras had more respect for each other and their profession. They wanted to play hard against their rivals, and deliver punishing checks whenever they could. The difference was that they understood that that opponent was another human being, a fellow hockey player, and you shouldn’t purposely try and end his career just to get the puck or knock him down. It’s an attitude sorely missing from the modern game.
Now let’s look at what we have with the current equipment, and the some of the meatheads that wear it.
The Modern Game
Thankfully for hockey players at all levels, the technology that goes into the equipment has improved exponentially since the early days of Phil Esposito and Stan Mikita. Not only are helmets, gloves, skates and pads better padded and more impact resistant, they are more comfortable and allow a much wider range of movement despite the bigger sizes. All of that is great for the safety of everyone, from kids just beginning hockey to the most veteran NHL’er.
The improvement of the equipment, though, has created the problem we are discussing here, and that is the shoulderpads. Compared to the image of the 1970s pads above, the modern version of them look more like football pads instead of hockey pads. The player is covered from pelvis to neck with layers of high-tech padding and thick polyurethane. It would be hard to find a spot on a player’s torso that isn’t heavily armored.
That brings us to where the current NHL is. The players are bigger and in better shape than their 1970s counterparts. The equipment technologies and improvements to the ice surface has increased the speed and intensity of the game over the last half century. And the players are hitting harder than they used to because they are so well-padded that a bodycheck at full speed won’t hurt as much as it did for Esposito or Mikita. That is all well and good for the vast majority of the players who play the game clean, and have respect for their fellow players.
The problem arises when you have players like Torres and Rinaldo who obviously don’t have that same respect for other people.
They are so lacking in professional hockey skills that they must fall back on what they can do, which is throw their weight around and cause as much havoc as possible. Having a meathead (goon) like that, and having the level of protection they have from their equipment, inevitably leads to the penalties, suspensions and injuries we’ve seen from their recent play.
The solution is simple.
Shrink the shoulder pads to a size that more resembles the pads of old. Retain the same coverage, but get rid of the oversized and reinforced shoulder caps that are the cause of virtually every concussion not involving a fight or a boarding penalty.
These guys who have no respect for other players, and rely on their ability to injure others with a bodycheck, use these shoulder cups as weapons, and they should be disarmed. The misconducts and suspensions aren’t working for thick-headed players like Torres and Rinaldo, who seem intent on causing other players serious injuries, and in some cases career-ending damage.
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It’s understood that this new equipment policy would take a lot to put in place at all levels of hockey, and there would be a long implementation and acceptance phase to a major change like this. However, the NHL and the players adapted just fine to helmet and face shield requirements, and goalies have found a way to work with changes in their equipment over the decades. If nothing more than ever-increasing suspensions are offered as a solution, and players like Torres and Rinaldo are allowed to flaunt them, we will continue to see players struggling their whole lives with the debilitating effects of repeated concussions.