After the defastating(but clean)blow Wednesday night that sent Jason Williams off the ice on a stretcher - the third such type of hit in the young NHL season-a big debate has been going on. Should head-shots be allowed??
A bunch of people say its part of the game,its what happens when you don't keep your head up, and of course that you can't take it out of the game or the NHL is gonna be a "no touch league!"
But wait here. Do we want players running around getting hit in the head by other player? Bobby Orr doesn't think so!
"I don't want to see hitting taken out of the game, I love hitting in hockey," Orr told TSN during an interview, "but if someone puts his shoulder into a player's face, if he puts anything -- an arm, an elbow, a glove -- I think that player should get a penalty. Definitely, it should be a penalty. We are having players getting knocked unconscious before they even hit the ice and carried off on stretchers. How can that be legal? When did hitting someone in the head with your shoulder or any part of your body become part of the rules? Anything above the neck, it's wrong.
"Hey, I got hit a lot when I played and I didn't get hit in the head with checks," said Orr, the legendary defenceman who is now the head of his own player representation firm. "Players didn't always hit like that. To me, that's not part of bodychecking. I mean, don't you have to be responsible for your actions? If you hit a guy in the face with your stick by accident, you're going to get a penalty. Two minutes, four minutes, five minutes, something. If you go to bodycheck a guy and you hit him in the face or head, and injure him, that's legal? That's fair? That's not a penalty? I'm sorry, I don't think that is right. It should be a penalty."
"I just think in today's game, with the crackdown on hooking and holding and interference, we have to call penalties for hitting people in the head," Orr said. "Think about it, you can't touch a guy anywhere with your stick without getting a penalty, you can't make a little tug or get in a guy's way, but you can hit him in the face and knock him unconscious and there's no penalty for it. There's something wrong there."
In the OhL you get a penalty for making contact with the head, incidental or otherwise with the shoulder or any other part of the body.
This looks like a big debate that will continue as the season progreses. What do you think??:dunno:
A bunch of people say its part of the game,its what happens when you don't keep your head up, and of course that you can't take it out of the game or the NHL is gonna be a "no touch league!"
But wait here. Do we want players running around getting hit in the head by other player? Bobby Orr doesn't think so!
"I don't want to see hitting taken out of the game, I love hitting in hockey," Orr told TSN during an interview, "but if someone puts his shoulder into a player's face, if he puts anything -- an arm, an elbow, a glove -- I think that player should get a penalty. Definitely, it should be a penalty. We are having players getting knocked unconscious before they even hit the ice and carried off on stretchers. How can that be legal? When did hitting someone in the head with your shoulder or any part of your body become part of the rules? Anything above the neck, it's wrong.
"Hey, I got hit a lot when I played and I didn't get hit in the head with checks," said Orr, the legendary defenceman who is now the head of his own player representation firm. "Players didn't always hit like that. To me, that's not part of bodychecking. I mean, don't you have to be responsible for your actions? If you hit a guy in the face with your stick by accident, you're going to get a penalty. Two minutes, four minutes, five minutes, something. If you go to bodycheck a guy and you hit him in the face or head, and injure him, that's legal? That's fair? That's not a penalty? I'm sorry, I don't think that is right. It should be a penalty."
"I just think in today's game, with the crackdown on hooking and holding and interference, we have to call penalties for hitting people in the head," Orr said. "Think about it, you can't touch a guy anywhere with your stick without getting a penalty, you can't make a little tug or get in a guy's way, but you can hit him in the face and knock him unconscious and there's no penalty for it. There's something wrong there."
In the OhL you get a penalty for making contact with the head, incidental or otherwise with the shoulder or any other part of the body.
This looks like a big debate that will continue as the season progreses. What do you think??:dunno: