Viewpoint

This is not a question of legal or illegal. This is a matter of respect for the game and your fellow players. Hockey is one of the most intense sports, and emotions run high on the ice. We have all played with guys whose personality changes when the skates get laced up. To say the hit was not intentional is crap. As a fellow hard hitter, it is emotion that takes over when you see a player coming down ice with their head down. While in your heart, nobody at that level of play wants to seriously injure another player. You do want to hit them as hard as you can to make the highlights as well as have that player think twice about coming down your wing. Our game is already plagued with too many discretionary calls and whistles, I don't believe the rules and regulations are the answer....educate the players as to the severe life long consequences of getting hit in the head, or hitting a fellow player in the head may work? Nobody wants their career cut short because of a stupid hit. Let's face it, today's game is more about money and earning potential than hockey itself, and if they can see the $$ of their career going down the toilet, they will ease up on the open ice killers.

Bobby Orr has made some excellent points on this subject. Take the time to look them up.

What ever happened to respect for your opponent or has that somehow become a thing of the past?

Torres really needs to give his head a shake here. He clearly intended to flatten Williams - unnecessarily since the play was finished.
1) He was already checked by one other opponent.
2) A second Oiler picked up the loose puck. 3) Torres went out of his way to nail him.

There is no need for any athlete in the NHL to spend their post-playing days with brain injuries. Think about it.

John.

This is crap. Raffi is a good player. I play 12 andunder hockey. We get hit harder than that.

They are taking the fun out of hockey.

For a child's parents to pay registration for hockey nowadays is hard to do unless your child is one of the elite players on the team. If he isn't, chances are he will not be on the power play or be a penalty killer. If you are not good enough to be on the ice for either, chances are you will be watching a lot of hockey from the bench. Sure, they will tell you that sooner or later, everyone will adjust to the new rules, but you will see a decline in enrollment.

Nobody pays to go and watch the referee go back and forth to the penalty box.

Hits to the head are obviously very serious but there isn't 1 player in NHL who is intentionally trying to hurt another player. Just what the NHL needs, to cater to the 20% of Americans who watch hockey. No checking and No fighting. What should come out of this incident is not to admire your shot, especially on a wrap around. You should worry about what's really destroying hockey. All these idiots like Barnaby, Avery, Maltby etc. diving all over the ice. Divers should start to get to suspensions not players who throw clean hits.

The new rules that the CAHA has imposed at the minor level has made the game very boring to watch and to many penalties. I think that they have gone to far. If it is frustrating for the fans. I can imagine how frustating it is to be a player. I would not want to be a defenceman. You have no way of defending the front of the net.

I don't see how hitting to the head can be taken out of hockey short of enforcing a height requirement. It seems that some of the time, the person being hit is the shorter of the two players, and thus takes a knock on the noggin. Until you mandate that no short players (or tall players, for that matter) can play in the game, then you are going to have incidents where one player will get hit with shoulder to the head. Should the league punish guys who go head-hunting? Of course. Should it ban hits that have been 'clean' all along? No way.

The last thing that needs to be happening is for equipment manufacturers to be wrapping these men in kevlar to provide a level of protection that is totally unecessary. Nowadays the player throwing the hit never suffers like the player receiving it. It is time to stop making changes to the rulebook every year, instead change the equipment. Parhaps the philosphy of "stop the bleeding, not the bruising" would be the best goal to pursue. Even beer league hockey has its share of bruising, and even non-contact hockey has its share of contact. It is a risk you run stepping on the ice at any level of play. Removing the hitting would basically leave a sport where figure skaters chase a puck around. No disrespect to figure skaters (they require elite levels of athletic finesse and coordination too), but the average hockey fan lives for the clean open ice check (not to mention a good fight or two). I have personally been enjoying the resurgence of the hip check under the new regulations. To say that all players compete with a predisposed level of wanton malice is rediculous. While Williams was admiring his play (with his head down), Torres was finishing his hit (with his elbows down). Because players are injured on a play has not always been a reason to alter the rules. Automatic icing in point. How many careers have been ended due to high speed collisions while trying to negate the icing? Yet the NHL refuses to acknowledge this problem because similar to the shootout, the race for the puck is "exciting". I'd rather watch two combatants willingly engage in a fight than watch a young career be derailed in a three or four second foot race for the puck. Save kevlar for law enforcemnet officials or the army. If the protective level of the equipment is adjusted by the league, the players will sort themselves out on the ice.

Some people really need to do a spell check before submitting opinions. Either that or get off the sauce.

My big beaf,is the penalty for the puck going
over the glass when you are trying to kill a
penalty !Last night we watched montreal try to
kill at least two penalties ,5 on 3 against
the Leafs. Sometimes clearing the puck means
trying to bounce it off the glass. It doesn't
mean it was intentional!Who wants too have a
face-off in your own zone when you are already
down by one player for a previous penalty.
This rule should have not been tampered with!

The fact that every time we talk about this issue we always quickly add "but it was legal" would suggest that the speaker or writer thinks there is a problem the legality of the action. Telling a player to keep their head up is simply avoiding the issue. When players are taking 3 or 4 stride runs at each other there is obviously not enough respect for fellow athletes on the ice. If the players aren't going to regulate their actions, the league will have to step in. To me it seems odd that it's always the same group of players involved in these incidents. This small group of "pests" lack respect for the game and their peers we need to introduce rules that make their antics punishable and thereby riding the game of this cancer.
-James

I think head shots should be banned from the game, until you take extreme measures, players will continue to hit hard and players will continue to be injured.

Any elbow to the head of the opposing player should result in a minor penalty.

On the keep your heads up. I rather say yes because if a player accendintley in the head or chest. That's when the nhl officials say yes to keep their heads up.

rough sport has been since the first puck has ever bin dropped. These guys are pulling in money that they cant spend if you dont like getting hit quit just please leave the game how it is.

There is nothing wrong with good clean hits face to face, shoulder to chest, keeping the sticks, elbows, hands etc down. Don't take away the physical part of the game or you will turn hockey into a pussy game like soccer. I agree with outlawing hard plastic coverings on elbow pads, shoulder pads and the like. That is where they should target their efforts. The person dishing it out should feel the hit as well as the person being hit. Get rid of the hard plastic equipment and keep the body contact for sure! Just my opinion from a good Canadian kid born in the prairies relocated to the coast.

Cheers,

Kent

I have a Brain injury and don't want anyone to go thought what I have so yes I agree there should be no hitting of the head.

NO! Shots to the head should not be allowed in any game of hockey or any sport for that matter. I had my professional sports carrier cut short due to a hit to the head. I had post concussion symptoms for 3 years, and at times still have various symptoms. Mitchell(Vancouver) & Williams(Detroit) will have their symptoms for sometime and you will see more and more of professional athletes falling to this type of injury if they continue to allow hits to the head.

Loyal fan!

The NHL should should become a professional sports league and outlaw hitting to the head. It is rediculuous to put your most valuable assets (the players) at extreme risk. Too many are suffering from lifetime concussions, just look at the decisions made every day by the people running the league.

I think that referees should have the discretion to call hits to the head as being accidental, or not. I would instill a $25,000.00 penalty and ejection for all obvious intents to damage another person's head. We can enjoy a fast pace, skillful, physical game without resorting to cheap,barbaric acts. But I really want to congratulate you, Scott, for your upcoming induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. I'm extremely happy for you and your family. Enjoy!

Legal, is legal, is legal. These types of hits shouldn't even be refered to as "hits to the head". Torres did nothing wrong, period. How many NFL players get hurt every week? Take the number of games, players and incidents that put players out of action, and you'd see how few hockey players really are injured proportionately. They are paid very well to play a dangerous sport, where "keeping your head up" is heard routinely for a good reason. Do you hear about other sports having to defend their participants from playing those sports legally? Sure, Jason Williams in no way deserved what happened to him, but he certainly put himself in a bad position and did not do much to prevent it either.

I have played hockey all through childhood, I know the # thing to remember is to keep your head up, Jason Williams forgot that, he got nocked on his ass, it happens get on with it!

The NHL is looking for trouble by labelling hits to the head as ''legal''. By making it ''illegal'' and penalizing it, in the long term it will be beneficial and in no way takes the physical part out of the game. In the Quebec major junior league, at hit to the head or from behind gives you a game misconduct automaticaly, and since it was installed they have fewer of them and the game is still as physical and interesting to watch.

I do not believe that any hockey player today has the will to intentionally hurt another player in a serious way that could lead to ending a career. The game is fast with split second decisions and reactions. Listen to coach Cherry and change the size and materials in the equipment used. Every player wants to make that big hit that could change the tempo or momentum in a game. That's hockey. Game on boys!

In regards to the last two comments. If rules were in place that stipulated the player who did the hitting was not allowed to hit the other player in the head, there would be far fewer injuries. Enough of this grey area justification, it is no different than hitting a player in the face with your stick. If you hit a player in the face with your stick you get a penalty. So if you cant hit a player in the face with your stick - which doesnt cause near the injury that a shoulder to the head does - why should you be able to hit him in the head with your shoulder, the impact is far greater and therefore more damaging. Make hitting to the head a penalty, what does the league have to loose? Nothing! Players will respect each other more, and there will be less serious injuries. Simple. It is a war out there and if the league doesnt police it these guys will do anything to win especially in the playoffs, remember Bobby Clarke in the Summit Series, he broke the guys ankle with his stick. I dont care what anyone says, Torres knew exactly what he was doing and he intended to hit him in the head. I played hockey all my life and if the rules said you can knock someones teeth out with your stick, it would happen.

I completely disagree with you. I have played hockey my whole life and I know Torres intended to hit him in the head because he knows it is legal. if it wasnt legal he wouldnt do it, neither would anyone else. Neither would Moore on Naslund, which would have prevented that whole mess in the first place. Putting the onus on the recipient to keep his head up is stupid! Players should not have to protect themselves from serious intentional injuries and that is the whole idea behind hitting a guy in the head like that. The whole idea behind a body check is just that, the body not the head. Hitting someone in the head is a serious risk of injury. I bet if you asked Torres if he would like to be checked like that his honest answer would be no. Why? Bbecause it could end his career and cause severe health issues. Therefore is hitting someone in the head all-right? Give your head a shake.

It has always bewildered me why the NHL considers shots to the head "legal hits." I have seen so many hits -- Scott Stevens's head shot on Eric Lindros springs to mind -- where the player clearly was deliberately aiming for the head. It's a disgrace, really, and, even if hockey is a rough game, head shots ain't hockey.

Yeah sure!!Take out the physical aspect of game and what's left?I think they should be more severe penalities to players who instigate that kind of hit and referee should be more aware of that dangerous aspect of the game cause just remember the last spring playoffs:Jeff Carter or Tim Conolly and the last one is still out of roster and the Sabres aren't sure if he is coming back so the solution:more severe penalties and if the situation of the player who was hit is really bad then make the player who instigate the hit make amends for it and ban for some games so they might understand.Hopefully the NHL can change that situation.
Good season to everyone and enjoy hockey without these dangerous hits.

"Television replays showed Torres had built up a healthy head of steam, but stopped striding to avoid a charging penalty, then ran over Williams who appeared to be looking down at the puck"
- this is pretty misleading since Williams had just wrapped around the net in an attempt to score. How was Torres supposed to know Williams was going to stop and watch the play while his head was down? Of course Torres was skating fast ... do you expect him to GLIDE over to a player in an attempt to make a defensive play? The Red Wings themselves said it was a clean hit. I feel bad for Williams but don't blame Torres for doing his job.

It's hard to say. In any physical type game, there's always that chance where someone could get hurt, no matter what rules you apply on hitting and what not. Only thing you can do is to keep your head up, and your eyes and ears open. Now, if the person who is delivering the check is intentionally aiming their shoulder into the player's head or face, then that's something that should be looked at.