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Until the little black book says otherwise, head shots will stay

October 30, 2008 01:37 PM | Posted by   P.J. Stock  

If only I could remember when we started to pay attention to the person who said, “That was a head shot! There is no place for actions like that in our game. He should be punished and whipped and lashed and kicked in the groin and elbowed in the spleen and of course, suspended!”

All last year and since the lockout all I’ve heard is this never-ending rant, "HEAD SHOT, HEAD SHOT! He should be suspended." That demand is followed by the also popular, "We need a rule preventing players from hitting other players with shots to the head."

What happened to the game of hockey that I fell in love with as a child? What happened to the players that we all grew up idolizing? What’s happening to the game of hockey?

What happened to the crushing body checks of Scott Stevens, who was honoured last year with an induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame? Stevens was a player that we all loved and adored for his 22 years in the NHL. If he played today, he would be hated and suspended and called a head-hunter.

Nothing in the book

When Stevens caught Lindros or Willis or Kariya with one of those famous hits, it was their fault for having their head down. It was glorified as a bone crushing hit. It was a legal body check under the rules found in the National Hockey League’s Official Rule Book.

You know what’s funny? I’ve looked and looked and still can’t find anything in this year’s booklet that says anything has changed. Despite all the complaints, there is still no rule, penalty or HEAD SHOT category.

Why is it now the fault of the hitter and not the fault of the who ... the hitee? (You understand).

What is the first thing you teach a peewee kid when he’s starting to play contact hockey? Keep your head up! Protect yourself!

Why when one of these players gets tattooed in today’s NHL it’s not their fault for not keeping their head up? Why isn’t it their fault for not protecting themselves? Why?

All I heard last week was Kurt Sauer of the Coyotes "headshotted" (I don’t know what language this is) Andrei Kostitsyn.

From what I saw, this is what happened…Andrei made a nice drop pass to Alex Kovalev and watched his pass. Kostitsyn was bent over, head first watching the puck. Six-foot-four Sauer lowered the boom on ol’ AK46. AK hit the boards and then the ice. He wasn’t injured from the hit, but rather from his head bopping off the ice. Yes, it was a hit to the head. But how else was Sauer supposed to hit Kostitsyn? Drop to his knees and try and hit AK46 in the chest?

Montreal has been screaming head shot for a week and coach Carbonneau says the game has to change or someone is going to get hurt. Of course someone is going to get hurt. That is why we have 20,000-plus fans filling in arenas. That is why we wear the best equipment available. That is why our peewee coach taught us to keep our heads up.

HEAD SHOT! HEAD SHOT! HEAD SHOT! Enough already.

Until my pretty little black book (head out of gutter) of NHL rules changes or alters its rules and adds something dealing with head shots, please no more. Zero. Zilch. Caput. Rien.

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