Head Shot Discussion

[Forty_Sixand2]

Frankenstein? Sure...but he's not a caveman. Boris Karloff may be a distant relative of Geno's...you never know.

On the plus side, he is not the ugliest player on the Pens:

 

[KennyBanyeah]

Funny how it's only an issue when it's a star player, Crosby, OV, Brady or Manning I guess the rest of the players don't mean a shit.

Before you go off on me take a look at history and you will see this to be true. They are contact sports and if you can't take it get the hell out, I'm not for head hunting but it does seem that way. If it was Avery, Kaleta or Niel it's no big deal.

JMO.

I agree Boss. What makes hockey so amazing is that great players can make highly skilled plays while in danger. This is what distinguishes excellent hockey players ftom merely good ones. If you eliminate a lot of the danger the cream will no longer rise to the top. Unnecessary risks should be eliminated but if you are worried about a head injury (or just about any other type of injury) competitive hockey is not for you.

What happens when one player is 6'5" and the other is 5'10". The head is at shoulder level. The taller guy should be banned from hitting completely, for fear of incidental head shots. You can tell when someone is targeting the head. The refs are not idiots.

This is also true. A player cannot, while moving in an athletic posture, reasonably control where his shoulder is relative to other players' heads. A shoulder is not like a stick or an elbow where it is possible to ABSOLUTELY control whether it comes in contact with another player's head.

 

[Bizzle McDizzle]

Never heard of him.

SPELLING NAZI!



meh. damn euro's. Buy a friggin' vowel you bastards.

 

[SLY]

lmao

 

[Dacks]

On Steckel's hit: no matter how much I want to get indignant about Crosby's injury, I can't see that as anything but accidental contact. At worst, maybe Steckel thought he would give Crosby a little bump, or maybe draw an interference. On the flip side, I've heard people blame Crosby, which is equally if not more dumb.

But those hits will happen. No matter what rules you put in place, there will always be a risk of accidental headshots.

However, the more I think about it, the more I'm in favour of a two-minute penalty for head contact - no matter what. And that would only be if the refs deemed that it was incidental contact on an otherwise perfectly legal hit. If it was a careless hit (ie the player didn't try to avoid head contact), double-minor or major penalty. Intentional headshot would be five and a game, with possible suspension.

Some innocent players will get a two-minute penalty for an accidental play. That sucks. But it will be far outweighed by the benefit of players actively trying to avoid head contact. (And unlike boarding penalties, I don't think players would try to abuse that rule by throwing their noggins at other people's shoulders.)

I'll admit it; I loved the Scott Stevens era hits as much as anyone. But with the speed of the game, size of players, modern equipment and what we now know about concussions, I'm willing to take it out of the game.

 

[Darkstone42]

Darkstone, that is my big soapbox, although it is mostly in the NFL. If a player is wearing a helmet properly (this is more for football because it's more all encompassing helmet, etc.) it should NEVER be jarred off in a hit or just fall off during play. Every time you see a player lose their helmet during play, I can guarantee they weren't wearing the chin strap properly and that the helmet is too big for them. There's really no point in wearing these things unless they're worn properly.

I agree. It should be a 15-yard penalty to come to the line for a play without all the snaps on your chip strap secured. That's how it is in high school, but the rule stops there. It needs to be in the college and professional games.

I had my helmet pumped up at halftime sometimes. I value the brains inside my skull. I don't see how these players can't. In my opinion, you notice the helmet less when wearing it properly because it's not moving around. It just becomes a part of your head.

I think a lot of it, though, comes down to laziness.