10 days till teams begin training camp, which means we are getting ever closer to opening night puck drop for the 2011/12 season. Like many of you, I can not wait to get this show on the road. Before then though, there are a few things thoughts I need to share.
First off, I am still hearing a lot of killjoys crusading to eliminate fighting from the game because of the 3 enforcer deaths this summer. To these people, I say FUCK YOU! I will not go into too much of a rant here because I went over my thoughts in my last post, but I will say this again, if these deaths were due to fighting, then why now? Why don't we have enforcers, both current and retired players killing themselves every year? Now I am not one who really believes in coincidence, and I will agree that it is a bit odd that all 3 men played the same role, but to me, there is something else to this, some underlying factor that no one has put their fingers on yet.
Some will claim that brain injuries due to fighting causes depression, and ultimately, suicide. Okay, if that were the case, why are more players that are not fighters killing themselves? Concussions have been an issue in the NHL for a long time now. Every year players are missing more and more playing time as a result of these had injuries. Marc Savard's career is pretty much over. Talks about Sidney Crosby should retire is another thing mentioned a lot these days. Others believe he will be ready for opening night, but even so, will ever be any good again? We have seen players in the past that have returned from concussions and were a mere shell of their former selves on the ice. There are many other players with the same issue. I think most teams have at least one player dealing with a serious concussion at the moment.
So how dose the NHL lessen these head injuries? Simple, and it is so fucking simple that it staggers me that they haven't implemented these ideas already.
First off, it is not getting rid of fighting. If you are one of the people that say fighting should be taken out, YOU should be the one to hang yourself. Also it is not taking out hitting, or any other neutering of the game that seems to be a popular rally cry of the squares that want to turn the game into a non contact, play with a Nerf ball, figure skating game.
Here are a few things that can help. The majority if these hits are from two players going into the boards behind the net. So to lessen the chance of that play developing, GET RID OF THAT STUPID TRAPEZOID! Allowing the goalie to come out and play the puck means there is less of a chance two players will crash into the boards behind the net. On top of that, one of the few things the NHL tried in the R&D camp earlier this summer that made sense was the hybrid icings. There is one more thing that can help with these type of hits, and that is an idea that Don Cherry talks about all the time, and that is eliminating the lip where the glass meets the boards. If you were to make the glass and boards flush, players are less likely to catch their heads on the lip on the way down. These 3 things will greatly reduce head injuries from behind the net plays.
Alright, but what about the open ice head shots you ask? Again Don Cherry has the
answer and that is to get rid of the hard plastic pads the players wear these days. The modern equipment poses two problems. One is the injuries they can cause when a player is hit with these pads, as opposed to the soft foam pads players used back in the day. Look at the hit Crosby took in that outdoor game. Had the player been wearing foam pads when he clipped Crosby, I am almost positive there would have been no injury. He was not hit very hard, well in terms of speed anyway. There are more hits that show the same thing. Minor contact that results in serious injury.
The second problem is players wearing these pads feel invincible, and in turn, take liberties with hits they will make because there is little risk of them hurting themselves. If they were wearing foam pads, they will think twice before laying a crazy hit because not only do they risk a suspension, but also potentially an injury to themselves.
If these things were implemented, most head injuries would be a thing of the past.
One final thing before I go. Winnipeg unveiled their
sweaters today. I have to say, I was a little iffy on the logo when it was first shown, but it has since grown on me. I do like the sweaters though. They are nice and simple. And I get the homage to the Royal Canadian Air Force.
I see a lot of people talking shit about them though on a few sites, but I think that is mostly cause people on the internet have a hard time thinking for themselves and simply parrot someone else's opinion that came before theirs. People wanted the old logo and jersey, and when that was not the case, they were gonna whine and bitch about it no matter what the new logo/sweater was going to be. I mean come on people, this is not even the same team that left Winnipeg, they didn't even have to call them the Jets. In fact if the NHL didn't end up buying the Coyotes, they would not have even gotten the rights to rename the Thrashers the Jets. So in the end, go shut the fuck up and be happy that you got a team back, even though in reality it is still the same old shitty Atlanta Thrashers.
Well that's all for now...
Until next time...
STAY ANGRY!!
