Number8
Registered User
- Oct 31, 2007
- 18,188
- 17,461
Flying pucks, yes. Not as much from hits though.This only encourages people lying about it.
And also would add to broken collar bones and ribs, not only from the hits but from flying pucks
Part of the problem with hockey pads these days is that they encourage players to act like human missiles. Just like american football. I played Rugby, Football, and Hockey. I led with my head in football tackles (idiotic I know, but just being honest). Do you think I led with my head on rugby tackles??? We all know the answer to that and, more importantly, why.
Of course hockey also has two things that make the sport significantly more dangerous that football (which is saying something):
Speed and an enclosed playing area. Human missiles in confined areas? More injuries. It's not rocket science.
You smoke me in football, as long as you don't hit me in the head, I have room to absorb the hit and perhaps move in a different angle/direction away from the hit. Not saying it takes away all of the force, but certainly some. In hockey (say last night) Carlo's body and head had nowhere to go after absorbing the hit. If that hit was made on football field he would have moved with the hit and not ricocheted his head off the glass. However, once his body is hard against the boards and a heavy hit is made, his head is obviously going to smack against the glass. Those hits against the bench where a guy goes ass over teakettle into the bench??? They look dramatic and we all go "ooooooooh", but unless a guy catches his ribs against the dasher (again another immovable object that will not absorb force) nobody ever gets injured on those.
So... you cannot change the rink or the confines of same. This is not pond hockey obviously (how many of us have had concussions in pond hockey that have NOT stemmed from banging head off ice? Answer: I suspect none.). So what do you do? You stop arming these guys with carbon fibre armor that Knights of the RoundTable would have given their left testicle to have.
Give me a few more collarbones and rib breaks anyday of the week if it means fewer of a seemingly endless number of brain injuries.