Clean hits no longer allowed

[Thundercleese]

There's been a rash of media and player knee-jerking towards clean hits that have resulted in injuries. Even 'regular' old hits are becoming an issue all of a sudden. A couple of players go down from clean hits and suddenly every time a guy is knocked cleanly into the boards the opposition's entire line attacks the hitter. I don't know about you guys but I think it's getting ridiculous. People are calling guys like Robyn Regehr headhunters and the Canadian sports media seems to be pushing some kind of 'eliminate hitting' agenda (TSN last night ran a poll asking if otherwise clean bodychecks that make contact with a players head should be penalized). Now I'm clearly biased but look at a guy like Regehr's history objectively and you'll see he's never been a dirty player when it comes to hitting. He never gets his elbows up, his stick up or his hands in another guy's face when he hits them unless it's unintentional. He hits HARD but cleanly and professionally with respect for the other player.

So I'll put it out there. Are hits too hard? Is there any way to keep a player's head out of the equation when you're hitting their body? Are players just getting softer? Why the violent response every time a player cleanly hits another? Most of all, why is this suddenly a big deal?

[Minstrel]

NHL = No Hitting League It's been trending this way for a long time now unfortuantely and the new speed and no obstruction means that really players are only being caught by the most bone rattling perfectly timed of all hits and they are full on high speed collisions since. Since they are rarer and rarer nowadays they are easier to single out for those people in the "hitting is bad" brigade as well.

So the raising percentage of big hits to injuries is a bit of a natural progression and since these aren't things in the game that are happening in every game it makes it an even easier target. I think that's why it's easy for media to pick up on it and make it a big deal when in fact it isn't. But again as always beware the small statistical sample; a few injuries on hits and people go nuts. It's rehetoric over reason and it's the media and anyone wantign to make a 'campaign's most often used tool.

[E5150_ca]

I think we all know my opinion on this. Exact reason why I've been watching so little NHL this year.

[Devils88]

maybe in 4 years from now they have changed the rules in a way that they sell us curling for a hockey game...

HEADLINE:
Lindros forced to retire at 40, he got a concussion after he fell over a teammates broom...

HOCKEY SHOULD REMAIN A CONTACT SPORT!

[mark_htfc]

I agree. Hockey should be remained as a contact sport. Taking out contact takes away one of the main parts. How easy will it be to get through now??

As on NHL I love turning my back and sending the computer flying

[batdad]

Totally agree that to some extent players are backing off of making a hit because they are concerned that they will get a penalty. They seem to have developed alot of bad habits in hitting that cause them to take bad penalties. Rarely do you see physical European players take these bad hit penalty calls anymore (ULFIE was an exception Jarkku Ruutu is an exception). Kim Johnsson, Ohlund, Timmonen, Malkin, Ovechkin, Norstrom--these guys all hit clean, and have some big big hits out there. Especially Ohlund/Norstrom. Why...no bad habits and have been taught properly.

However, hits to the head? Um, always have been not clean hits. Just now they are very very careful. From the time they are 10 players of this game who have coaching and are taught properly learn: Shoulder to shoulder, shoulder to chest, elbow tucked down, do not jump, hip to waist, not leg. Do not drag leg behind you. Hits to the head: INVARIABLY EVERY SINGLE TIME..elbow is up. Penalty should be called. In the last 5 years of hockey I have seen players jump into their hits, and leave the ice with both feet more often than not. Penalty:boarding, charging. Leg drags: kneeing, clipping, tripping..whatever you want to call it.
Now this is not necessarily the fault of players. Watching minor hockey games all over the place, as well as NHL and junior you can see people are not teaching how to hit properly at younger levels. If not taught properly, bad habits develop, and bad hitters end up in the NHL.
Regehr is not a head hunter...no worries from me there. Phaneuf is...

Scott Stevens is often used as an example of a great hitter who plays right on the edge of legal hits. Definitely on the edge...very bad habit of having the elbow up. However, Lindros hit was clean. Completely clean.

[Thundercleese]

When I say hits to the head I don't mean elbows or charges. I see what you're saying, batdad, and agree with you but I'm talking about the kinds of hits like that which Regehr laid on Aaron Downey in Montreal. It was a shoulder to shoulder check, into the glass, and Downey's head was forced into the glass as a result of the clean check. There are plenty of hits where contact is made with the head (especially on smaller players) but it is not the focus of the hit. Maybe I should've said "hits with collateral cranial involvement" rather than "hits to the head".

Phaneuf hits HARD and often, but he's no headhunter. He hits clean but big, sometimes he's looking for the hit and it costs him his positioning, leading to an odd-man rush, but that's not headhunting, that's enthusiasm. He had 3 major penalties last season and those were all fights. He had only one more penalty minute than Ohlund. No misconducts, no match penalties.

[Minstrel]

I didn't see the Downey hit but the hit on Mitchell was the same thing, clean hit it just so happened that there was a big wall there too I've been watching a lot of Anaheim and San Jose this year and they've really gotten some serious board rattling going on. I never realized that Sami Pahlsson was such a crusher for example and it's interesting that batdad brings up Euro-trained players being "cleaner" because that seems to def. apply with Pahlsson; he just plain blows people up but he never gets his elbows or stick high it seems.

[Shadd666]

Sounds like an other exemple of media cricticism without reflexion...
Hits are and have to stay a part of hockey!
And, like batdad said, hits are not the problem. Problem is that youngsters are not teached to hit properly.
So instead of claiming the end of the hits, medias should better claim for a better teach of the hits to youngsters. Some players forget that the aim of a hit is to separate a player from the puck, not separate him from consciousness!!! It's more a coaching issue than a game issue.

So, yes, something has to be done. But it seems that the attacks aren't focused on the source of the problem... As a result, nobody will find a good solution... Hope that'll change...

[batdad]

Hockey Canada is definitely working on this. It is one of the issues with raising the age of body checking being allowed. At 9 and 10, the size of players in the top division varies wildly. You have my son at 5 ft 3 120-125 lbs playing against and with children who are 4 ft 3 and all of 60 lbs soaking wet. Body checking in this division, well great for my son, would scare some kids right off the rink. However, teaching proper positioning, and angling (body contact) must be done properly at this age, and is now beginning to occur at the higher levels anyway. At the lower levels (house hockey) the coaches can sometimes barely skate, so how can they teach proper angling, gap control and positioning?...not possible. So some kids who bloom later, are missing out on all the info they need to survive later.
Then in the hitting years 11 and up, you have the same problem, plus TESTOSTERONE. Kids want the big hits they see on TV...well they want to make em not receive em. So they run around and get crazy, unless they have proper coaching. Again, at high levels of competition this occurs, but the lower levels (Where guys like Jovonovski, Cooke, Reid Johnston played as kids early on - his hit on Ohlund last week) the coaching is not so good, and many things are missed. Jovo started when he was 14, Cooke and Johnston played low levels until they were almost teenagers I believe.
I am the first person to say at 9-10 years old what you do on the ice does not matter a darn for when you are older, relative to what league you will play in. Read Jovo example. But, thinking again in terms of this maybe it does. (I know at my son's organiztion there are only 3 kids (Of 15)who played on the top level 9-10 year old team, who are now playing ON THE TOP LEVEL 14-15 year old team, and that this is a regular occurence. Many kids develop much later into way better players than the earlier developers. However, many miss out on learning how to take/receive a hit.
This Defiinitely needs to be addressed.

[Shadd666]

I totally agree with you batdad, the problem comes from a lack in the youngster's coaching.

But what can we do?... I think that if hockey fans can see the source of the problem, coaches would see it too, wouldn't they? Due to their work, they would see it BEFORE fans, i think... It seems that it's not the case for all coaches... How can we change things?

[batdad]

Coaches do. (toot toot my horn) I am a coach. Problem is there are not enough qualified people out there to coach all the kids.As an example: My son and those his age at our organization are very very lucky. We have 6-7 amazing coaches in our age group. Trouble is the coaches are all on the same team. Because the kids are all strong hockey players. It is very difficult for those of us not involved this season, or any season for example in the coaching, to coach another team with the amount of time that is taken up on hockey and other things in our own child's lives.
So you know at our organization there are 10 teams at my son's age level. If the seven of us were split up to 7 teams, and then we had 2 or 3 others, we would have 10 teams, with quality coaches, who "get" the game, and "get" what needs to be taught to 9-10 year olds, and what changes in teachings as they grow/develop.
However, as it is all 7 of us are with one team. Last season I worked with a team my son was not on. I was at the rink 4 or 5 days a week with the team I coached, and then 4-5 days per week with the team my son played on. Overlap was tremendous. It was just not something that anyone could do with a proper focus for each team/child. Very hard.

Coaches go to clinics, learn the stuff, but then they have to have a "hockey mind" or hockey background to be able to put the stuff they learn at the clinics into a cohesive teaching plan on the ice. Then they have to have the respect of the kids (which is earned, not just given, as it should be and is some times interfered with by the parents). Then they have to have the ability to show the kids what to do...skill level. Ie, not skate on the ankles as my coach for 4 years did when I was a kid.
And finally they have to understand that 15 kids on a team, are 15 kids with 15 personalities ,and that one kid will not learn the same way as another. Then.....there are the parents of the budding NHL'ers. Ahem, yeah right. The parents who tell the kids what they think they know, that is completely the opposite of what the coaches are trying to teach.
Coaches do see it...the ones who know the game, but then they have to be able to teach it. How we change it .... let the coaches coach. Parents shut the hell up. Including me. So now I will.

[inSTAALed]

Some players forget that the aim of a hit is to separate a player from the puck, not separate him from consciousness!!!

Oh... My... God..

That's the first time I've laughed out loud after reading something on the internet in quite some time.

Thank you.

Shadd speaks the truth!