Another Day, Another Head Shot

Fame and the limelight can do funny things to people. Exhibit A - Patrice Cormier.

Last year as a grinding, third- or fourth-line winger for Team Canada at the world junior hockey championships, Cormier was a hardhitting complement to the skill boasted up front by the likes of John Tavares and Cody Hodgson. Cormier, physically mature to the point he looked much older than his teammates, played well, staying out of the chippy trouble into which teammates like Stefan Della Rovere and Chris DiDomenico became immersed.

This year, as team captain, it was a totally different story.

Cormier was nasty and selfish from the beginning, with his first act a head shot on a Swedish opponent. During the tournament, he was occasionally dirty and always on the edge. One of his favourite manoeuvres - I witnessed it first-handed several times - was to punch opposing players in the stomach and groin area during scrums or battles along the boards. He was essentially to the 2010 team what Steve Downie was to the 2004 junior nats squad.

Word leaked out during the competition that he was going to be traded to Rouyn-Noranda, one of those appalling major junior deals in which teenagers are moved around in the middle of school years and seasons.

Canada struggled to keep its cool at various times during the tourney, with Cormier and Leaf prospect Nazem Kadri among the worst offenders. When head coach Willie Desjardins had to give the team a tonge-lashing after the second period of what ultimately became a semifinal victory over Switzerland for undisciplined penalties, Cormier was one of the objects of his ire.

In the end, Canada lost 6-5 in overtime of the gold medal game to the United States, and while Desjardins' coaching and Jake Allen's goaltending received the bulk of the critical reviews, Cormier's leadership of that team was one of the factors that went largely ignored.

He wasn't a great player for Canada. It's hard to say whether he was a good captain. 

But almost immediately upon returning to junior and joining his new team, Cormier has found himself in serious hot water over last weekend's head shot incident in which he came off the bench during a line change and cold-cocked Quebec defenceman Mikael Tam.

Tam has left hospital, and Cormier has been indefinitely suspended and may well be banned for the rest of this QMJHL season, which essentially would mean the remainder of his junior career.

Throughout hockey, head shots are now the No. 1 issue, intriguing given that the majority of hockey fans insist that fighting - repeatedly punching an opponent in the head - is an integral part of the sport.

It's become a gigantic problem in youth hockey, where boys and girls are having hockey careers ended at shockingly early ages by concussions. Junior hockey is trying to deal with the issue with long suspensions, while the NHL seems paralyzed, unable to enact even small changes that would limit the ability of players to smash opposing players in the head and cause concussions.

Earlier this season, Philly captain MIke Richards demolished Florida's David Booth with an unpenalized, blindside head shot, and Booth hasn't been the same since. Once a favourite to make the U.S Olympic team, in the end he wasn't chosen by GM Brian Burke.

The NHL says its studying the issue, but hasn't made a move yet.

So Cormier, a second-round draft pick of the New Jersey Devils, probably felt that decking Tam was, within his sphere of reference, not a terrible thing to do. He'll have to be a physical player to make in the NHL, and play on the edge.

Until all of hockey legislates against this stuff, decides collectively that hitting an enemy player in the head under any circumstances is over the edge, this will continue.

More brains will get scrambled. Sickening and sad.

Comments

[Don Naduriak]

This is so easy to fix - simply have the offender suspended for as long as the other player is unable to play.

In this case, there obviously should be criminal charges. What kind of Police force do we have, when this sort of mugging is not followed by charges?

[Mark Capern]

I totally agree. This is sickening.
There is a culture of dirty play everywhere unfortunately.
As a father of a Minor Midget player we see it each game.

No to this extent but many instances of intent to injure. Blatant and clear.
Kids are full of competitive spirit that is a Canadian way.
Coaches can be a huge influence of both ends of the scale.

Hotheadedness and "Pay Back Hockey..."... needs to go away.
Sure there has always been a historyof this going back to forever but time to make this more than an example.

His mistake was two things...
1. Doing what he did.
2. Doing what he did with cameras everywhere...

I say he's damaged and peeved that he was:
A. Captain of Silver in stead of Gold
B. Traded as he was to where he was...

New Jersey assumes his problems and it will likely come with a price.
Perhaps he and other stupids in the NHL should just start their own fight club...
On another planet please. Then our kids will have fun and be safe.

Signed.
A Disgusted Hockey Father... amazed that a captain with it all tosses it all...

His parents must be ashamed.

[Dr. Tamias]

This is why I do not want my son to play hockey.

[Egons Lasis]

Cormier's hockey days should be terminated. He's clearly a cheap-shot artist and there's no room for such players in the game. Obviously talented, an example has to be made of him in order for this to be taken seriously.

[Jack Bristow]

Cormier should be banned from hockey...for life. This one of the dirtiest, illegal hits I have ever witnessed. Why is it that during the Junior Championships there was none of this stuff? Now that we get back into 'regular' hockey this trash starts up again. Something is terribly wrong with our game and everyone should be asking why this happens.

[Peter Komlos]

Yes. The Cormiers of this world succed as long there is the NHL. A sport league that allows this "Well, boys will be boys" attitude and win at all costs is the goal.
This young man should have been suspended by the manager and coach of Team Canada after his hit on the Swedish player. BUT why are we surprised? Bobby Clark was our national hero after breaking the leg of an opponent. In those days it was all right, because the opponent was a 'communist'. How sick we are as a nation to not know what is right and what is wrong? or if we do know the difference, we don't do anything about it.

[Don]

I agree it's terrible, but not much different than what Darcy Tucker tried to do to Kavalev a few years back. His open-ice flying elbow resulted in arguably the greatest retributive play of all time - Kovalev deked through the Leafs in the offensive zone until he could repay Tucker in kind - with a flying elbow delivered while he stickhandled!

The point is, the referees never penalized Tucker for his open-ice intent to injure - and they often don't at the NHL level, preferring instead to send both players off after a scrum. If Tucker was to pay at all, Kovalev would have to deliver the justice - and take the extra penalty for doing so.

Kids learn what they watch. Cormier probably figured he'd start a scuffle and the teams would be evenly penalized.

[James Patterson]

Wouldn't it be proper to treat the cowardly act of Patrice Cormier as a criminal matter? Charge the offender...no excuses about 'how it was the passion of the moment', or 'physical contact is what hockey is all about'.

[Goalie man]

You know what... I don't often agree with you Damien. There's nothing wrong with that... hockey is a game that requires opinion. Mine just happen to usally differ from yours.

But in this case, you are 100% correct.

I especially liked the comparison to Steve Downie... when that kid made the transition to the NHL he proceeded to knock a few guys out with sucker punches, checking from behind, and jumping while hitting.

Time to get the dirty players out for good. Yes, competition and will to win, but RESPECT for your peers is essential.

[Housey]

I agree that head shots, the likes of side-swiping,corner-of-your-eye blows being received, need to be eliminated entirely. But the comment relating fighting to an incident like this is completely unrelated. Fighting is in no way similar to the lack of respect shown by SOME players in incidents like this. Toe to toe, gloves down, a hockey fight is a part of the game, and a great one at that. There's nothing wrong with hockey fighting, just like there is nothing wrong with UFC or boxing. This is like saying that UFC shouldnt exist because someone landed a lowblow on an opponent. Its a matter of code, ethics and respect for your opponent, and that should be what is questioned here. Not whether fighting is the root of the problem. Cause it just simply isnt. If you dont like fighting, watch baseball or basketball.

[Greg]

Cormier should get a minimum of a balance of the year suspension. His team should be penalized by way of a significant fine and be put on a very short leash when it comes to on or off-ice violence. The NHL is largely responsible for this with their indirect support for goon style tactics by not dealing with violent player activities in an appropriate fashion. The league, the CBC and the players are too concerned about looking macho and don't have enough concern for how stupid they look. The NHL and HNIC are second rate organizations at the moment.

[Les Couchie]

Damien's article says it all. To watch a player go into convulsions on the ice is not anything that can be associated with hockey--anywhere.

[Rob]

"Throughout hockey, head shots are now the No. 1 issue, intriguing given that the majority of hockey fans insist that fighting - repeatedly punching an opponent in the head - is an integral part of the sport."
This hit does not compare to fighting in hockey. Very seldom do you ever see anyone get seriously injured from a punch to the head. Some have fallen and hit their head on the ice, that's where serious injury happens, but not the punching itself. And even if they did get hurt, at least they chose it and saw it coming. In a fight you get to choose whether or not you want to partake. The blindsided hit by Cormier, or by other cheap shot artists like Chris Pronger, Scott Stevens, or Ti Domi, and in at least one case Bertuzzi, are chosen by one party only.....them. The victim doesn't get a choice.
The comparison made here by Damien Cox is laughable.
The rest I agree with. The hit was brutal and has no place in hockey. I think at some point someone has to make an example of people like this and say 'Sorry, but your career is done. You are not permitted to enter the NHL'.

[James Bulger]

Just disgusting and despicable and a total disgrace to the game of hockey and a major disgrace to Canadian hockey. How in the name of God can someone of such flawed character ever be named captain of any hockey team let alone Team Canada. As a Canadian who played the game over a fifty year period, I believe that is the kind of behaviour that should draw a lifetime ban from the game at all levels.

[Paul MacLatchy]

Well said Damien - but the head shot by Cormier has nothing to do with fighting. It was a criminal act with intent to injure (perhaps permanently) and Tam or any other player should have no expectation that they be subject to such attacks in the course of their playing careers. In short Cormier should be held before a criminal court for his actions and made liable for all damages incurred by Tam.

[Arthur Bailey]

The last thing we need is another Steve Downie. As far as I am concerned, he should not even be allowed in the NHL after punching out the teeth of (TEAM MATE) Akim Aliu.

I've always enjoyed hockey fights growing up, but approaching 30, I don't see them in the same light. It is mostly just goonery. However, there is the rare exception. An example is Tomas Kaberle going after Jeremy Roenick after he creamed Robert Svhela and I recall something similar happening this season. When it's a player like Kaberle, who is by no means a thug, reacting on the emotion of seeing a team mate brought down with a punishing and borderline hit, it somehow feels right. But the goonery has to stop.

[Dilip Andrade]

Here's a suggestion to make players think twice: any hit to the head, preferably any illegal hit, results in a suspension that lasts for 5 games after the victim returns to the ice. If you end a career, you're out too.

I realise that the last player to concuss someone takes the biggest fall but so be it. The thought that an illegal elbow could end your career will do wonders at reigning people in. You'd also have to somehow deal with preventing players from being drafted after a suspension, or being called up after a suspension, but if the NHL has the same rule, teams will become risk averse to wasting a draft pick on a reckless player.

[Clevie Baron]

I think what it was, when boiled right down, was simply laziness (with a heavy dose of utter stupidity) on Cormier's part. A smart hockey player would have lined Tam up with a nice, clean, open-ice hit, shoulder to mid-section, after seeing him skating out of his own end like that on a rush. Cormier could have knocked him down cleanly and gotten a big cheer, possibly created a turnover, the crowd would have oohed and ahhhhed and the game would have gone on, maybe with Tam or a teammate looking to fight Cormier for revenge, as per "the code."
There was ample opportunity for just such a hit. Absolutely no need for Cormier to resort to an elbow to the head on that play.

[Sick N. Tired]

Mario Lemieux said it best many years ago: the NHL is a bush league. I stopped watching it after the left wing lock paralyzed the and the strike ended season cemented my resolve.

It's sickening to read about these narcissistic callous goons that pose as athletes destroying the lives of guys who play fair. What other professional sport allows that kind of crap to go on in the field of play? None! Only the bush league NHL. Until the NHL outlaws fighting and cheap shots altogether, the young guys trying to come will continue to play that way because the teams will want that. Turn the channel. Watch something else.

[Cory Smith]

CM is right, engaging in a fight and delivering a cheap shot, blind-side elbow to someone's head are NOT the same. But leave it to Damien, who has not played outside of house league, to think taking a punch to the nose or teeth is the same as cold-cocking someone with a flying elbow to the temple.
Anything to jump on the anti-fight soapbox, eh Damien?

[Ryan]

Bang on Mr. Cox.

My University Career ended early due to a head shot that messed me up in my 3rd year at Waterloo. Didn't make Varsity in my 4th Year because I still to this day am shaky on skates, and this was few years ago. I lose my balance easily, and I can't co-ordinate my feet like I used to.

HEADSHOTS need to go. So do the current elbow pads. Those things hurt a lot when hit in the face. They do more damage then they do protection.

[bjensendenver]

Well stated.... Sickening

[Matt]

Cox

Everytime I read something of yours I realize even more that your a total band wagon jumper who just dives on the treat of the week to sell a few more papers. Never once have you said anything positive about anyone in a role that is more glam then yours. You have an agenda against Ron Wilson and the Leafs, the team who basically feeds your job, where would you be with out the Leafs, writing about the latest traffic accident for some junk store local paper.

[Bill Sanderson]

I couldn't agree more on all accounts, Damien.
First of all, how does a player like this, with so much going for him make such a change in his game over a month period? Going from a strong, two-way forward to a player with a major chip on his shoulder, just doens't add up.
Secondly, it is time for the NHL to step up at the same time and address these same on going issues. When similar calls are either non calls or result in a two -minute minor penalty. I have lost track of how many times I have seen hits from behind, let alone head shots not be addressed during a game. I not only blame the players for their lack of respect amongst one another, I blame the league itself for not recognizing the danger these types of plays hold, and I also hold the on ice officials for some of the blame for not enforcing more penalties and clamping down on potential issues as a result.
The excuse of the game being played at such a high speed is useless; this coming from the same people who are adovating the use of smaller/lighter shoulder pads. If the players feel that they can handle playing with smaller protection, they can control their physical play on the ice.

[Anne]

After years of Don Cherry flogging his rock em sock em hockey, what can you expect?And if Mike Richards hit on Booth passed muster, why wouldn't a junior player like Cormier, trying to get into the NHL, pick up on that?

All the signals are to go ahead and destroy the opponnent, the tsk tsk'ing afterwards sounds hypocritical.