Hockey Things That Don't Make Sense

Didn't know you can't intentionally head a hockey puck into the net. Learned that Wednesday night during the Memorial Cup when Devante Smith-Pelly of the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors executed that rather slick maneuver against the Owen Sound Attack, and had then had the goal disallowed.

Basically, the rule book says any deliberate motion using a body part to score is illegal. You have to use your stick, unless it's by accident. So a puck can carom off your head into the net - we saw that happen with Mikhail Grabovski of the Leafs during the regular season - but you can't head it intentionally past the goaltender.

My question would be, why? I can see why you don't want players kicking at the puck in the crease, or swatting it into the net with their hands.

But heading it soccer-style? How could that possibly be either illegal or detrimental to the game?

Doesn't make sense. These rules made sense to somebody at one point or another, and then they just live forever.

In a more general, philosophical sense, it continues to baffle the mind how suspensions in hockey often seem to bear no relation to the damage done to the victim. Punishment is designed so as to not be unduly harsh, rather than to offer some concept of fairness and justice to the aggrieved.

We saw this years ago when Todd Bertuzzi ended Steve Moore's career, and then, after a suspension, resumed playing and getting paid, while Moore could not. That would be the most extreme case.

This year in the NHL, San Jose Sharks centre Joe Thornton came out of the penalty box in a game against St. Louis Nov. 4th and nailed David Perron of the Blues with a nasty, blindside head shot. Thornton got a two-game suspension. Perron didn't play the rest of the season.

Where's the proportionality between Thornton's punishment and Perron's pain?

Then you have the Joey Hishon injury at the 2011 Mastercard Memorial Cup last weekend. The Owen Sound centre was crushed at centre ice by an elbow from Kootenay Ice defenceman Brayden McNabb and left stunned and bloodied on the ice.

McNabb received a one-game suspension. He'll be on the ice for Kootenay tonight in a sudden-death tiebreaker against Owen Sound. Hishon, however, won't play, and is still recovering from concussion-like symptoms related to the nasty hit. According to Attack head coach Mark Reeds, Hishon right now can do little more than sit in a darkened hotel room. Making Hishon's absence even worse is the news that Owen Sound captain Garrett Wilson won't be available for the rest of the tournament after a controversial hit by St. Mike's forward Chris DeSousa.

How, exactly, is Hishon-McNabb situation fair? Games are assigned extra value by hockey administrators when it comes to assigning supplemental discipline. But the games missed by the victim don't seem to be assigned that extra value. So you get this kind of competitive imbalance and inherent unfairness. Nobody seems to think MacNabb is a dirty player or that he intended to hurt Hishon. But if he had, surely it's clear at this point it would have been a very worthwhile strategy.

There's no easy answer here. Simply saying the perp has to sit out as long as the victim doesn't necessarily make sense. But neither does the current philosophy that reigns supreme throughout the sport, one that seems to provide ample motivation for players to injure opponents knowing the tradeoff of discipline versus injury will almost always work in their favour.

Just one of those things in hockey that doesn't make sense. . . 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[othermark]

Damien, do you ever tire of pointing out what doesn't make sense in hockey? I mean really, what do you expect? Who cares about the 'heading the puck in the net rule'. It's so rare, I'd venture to say it hasn't been changed because nobody cares. As for the parade of injuries you point out as case an point for lack of fairness/justice in assigning discipline, well, o.k. stuff happens. You always are good at pointing that out. What you are not good at is offering an opinion about what to do about it. The vagueness that accompany these blogs is tiresome. Why don't you just state clearly exactly what you think should be assessed for particular infractions and why? Ironically, you are just like the NHL brass (that you frequently disparge), who refuse to make clear cut crime/punishment statements. And look where that has lead us.

[Mario Jobin]

Simple enough to fix. But it will never fly. Issue a list of infractions and the suspension time you incur for each. Injure a player and your suspension doesn't start until the injured player returns. Until then you are suspended indefinitely. For each suspension would also be stated a maximum period for the indefinite part, to address a situation where you end an opponent's career, something l'île rest of the current season and the next one, for example. But I repeat don't holà your breath. The NHL would not want it, the NHLPA stands with the accuses instead of the victim every time.

[Dan Torre]

Mr Cox, do you not think that players will respect each more knowing that their penelty will match the injury time away from the game? Like anything in life ounce they are use to it they would get it.

Or maybe if they just respected each more now, this issue would go away.

[nugget]

The rarity of goals scored off the head means it doesn't matter either way.

However, do we really want the possibility that players might be jumping up trying to head pucks into the air ? What about swatting at pucks with the back of their hand ? Kneeing or knocking pucks in with their shins ?

[Ryan]

Very simple Cox... The reason why the punishment doesn't match the result of the assault in question is because the duration of an injury is often affected by previous injuries. Is it fair to punish someone for a moderate hit to the head on someone who has had 6 concussions in the last 4 years? Based on your stipulation that would mean the punished player must miss the remainder of the season because the concussed player cannot finish the season. Just about every hockey player has been injured before in their career (junior, minors, NHL etc...), so all it may take is one more hit to the head, knee, shoulder, hip for them to be sidelined for the rest of the season.

That is why they do not base the punishment on the severity of the injury. It is not fair to the guy who hit someone who is in a fragile state due to a long history of injuries.

[jt]

Seems to me you're advocating for result based punishment, which is fine, but then you have to let people making dirty hits where there's no lasting damage to the victim off scott free.

[Pvk]

lol, while I would also enjoy more hockey and less goonage, that segway was a bit of a reach :)

still enjoy your writing and your blog (which i think "othermark" as forgotten is just blog and not a full fledged essay on one of most argued aspects of the game today)

[Kerry Liles]

Please explain, don't just claim something.

Why doesn't it make sense to have a suspension as long as the injured player is out?

I don't understand why Bertuzzi's punishment for something he DID was far, far less than Moore's punishment for doing nothing.

Moore can no longer play, that should be the starting point of Bertuzzi's punishment (ie: that plus a serious fine for the player and the team)

[Matt Taylor]

The head the puck thing is actually interesting... if you go back to the Wings/Sharks series Pavel Datsyuk actually appears to have tried to head the puck into the net soccer style in game 5 or 6, though he was unsuccessful.

[Ron]

Damien, punishment for head shots is simple, 10 games for the first time, 15 games for the second time, 20 games for the third time and so on. This takes all the guesswork out of the hands of the Leagues and the players will know what to expect for punishment when they go after someone's head. I really don't care if it is an accident or not ...tough!! The players today can avoid many of the head shots that are happening if they wanted to but for now there is no deterrent to do so. These lame excuses that a bigger guy going after a smaller guy will without question cause a head shot is exactly that....LAME. The other famous excuse is that the game is so fast and the players so big that these hits are unavoidable is also lame. The real problem is that no one has the onions to address it!!!! I believe the total number of concussions this year in the NHL alone is over 80....does that make any sense??

[Dave]

Damien, if they were to allow "heading" the puck into the net, should they then allow high sticks to deflect the puck, or do you see some fundemental difference between the two? Ultimately, we'd have guys flying head first into the crease because it's much harder to tie up someone's neck (or entire body) than it is their stick! Also allow me to get this straight, you fein concern for athletes with head injuries, but suggest that they risk their health by doing things such as "headers"? On that note, how does the NHL get away with putting people like Pierre McQueer between the benches, without a helmet; or glass protecting them? By definition of the law in Ontario at least, they could refuse on the basis that it's dangerous; I hope the WSIB refuses to cover one of them when they're seriously hurt on the job.

[Peter]

1) You always complain about concussions in the NHL and then wonder why you can't head in a puck? Can't you see a bunch of NHLers try this if it was legal and then get more concussions?
2) The issue of judging a suspension based on the severity of an injury is illogical. Sometimes the cleanest hits produce the worst injuries and the dirtiest hits produce no injuries. You can only base suspensions on the actual act itself and the intentions behind the person committing the act.
3) How much more are you going to kill Bertuzzi? He was suspended for the rest of the season and playoffs, wasn't allowed to play during the lockout, and his career has dwindled from a first line player to a third line player. It's not like he got off scott free. Whatever happened to serving your sentence and coming out clean? Do you also follow around people released from jail and hound them as well?

[Rob]

Didn't here any of you on the sportsnet panel complain about the hit on Wilson, or the ridiculously lopsided officiating in the St. Mikes game. Blame Owen Sound for being undisciplined? Take a good look at the penalties called that led to the 5-3 and the winning goal...pathetic.

[Jeff]

You cant head it in for the same reason you cant kick it in. There will be injuries due to head buts in the crease as there would be for people getting kicked in the crease.

I agree however about discipline. If I was Owen Sound tonight and was down a couple goals, why not try and take out the other teams top players and prevent them from winning?

Sports is competitive, teams would sit out a crappy player for a year if it meant a player like Thornton had to sit for a year...there is no honesty.

But the penalty has to be stiffer...think more 10-20 games instead of 2...2? who gives a shit about 2 games? Most could use the rest.

[tom o'sullivan]

While we will never find the perfect solution, it does appear Cox is correct that in most cases the "victim" is much worse off than the "perpetrator". I'm sure most will agree that the Bertuzzi-Moore incident is such a miscarriage of justice and the NHL and even moreso, the NHLPA should be ashamed of themselves. There is absolutely no justification for Bertuzzi's actions and I can only hope Moore will eventually win in a civil case.

While an "eye for an eye" is not necessarily fair, it is no less fair that the current situation, which is not working.

[Mark]

What you are advocating already exists in our legal system in personal injury law as the "thin skull rule". If you injure someone, you are responsible for the consequences of that injury. If a person is more fragile, i.e. has a "thin skull", and suffers a proportionately greater injury than another person might suffer, it's the perpetrator's problem, not the victim's. So the solution is simple. If a person is injured by a hit outside of the rules of the game, and the NHL continues to do next to nothing about it, then haul the perpetrator into criminal and/or civil court and let the court do what the NHL won't. Some time in jail and some multi-million dollar lawsuits will calm the headhunters down I think.

[Jason]

Another Hockey thing that doesn't make sense... playing until JUNE... it's 25-30 degrees out, I have no interest in watching hockey or being inundated with hockey news and updates. Enough already.

[norm mohamid]

Gee Damien,

medical researchers are already pointing out that headers in soccer could be having negative concussive affects on players. You really want hockey players to be trying to head-in a hard rubber missile travelling at 100+ KPH?

[Al Cleverdon]

You answered your own question by stating "soccer style"...Hockey isn't soccer and the rules are made for how the game is intended to be played.How about we allow soccer players to bat the ball into the net with their hands.Using your judgement it's beyond belief that they cant do that.While we're at it let's let football players pass the ball beyond the line of scrimmage indiscriminately.Hell, lets just change all the rules in all sports.Also,imagine a puck is at head height and a player tries to head it just as another player swings at it with his stick.Don't say the stick shouldn't be at head height because you've probably had that rule changed too.

[KD]

Another thing that doesn't make sense: Game 7 of the East final goes on Friday May 27. The finals start 5 days later. Why will they need 5 days to get from Boston to Vancouver? Are they taking a bus or something? And after that, there are two off-days before game 2. If the finals go 7 games, they'll end around June 14, although the dates for games 6 and 7 aren't set yet. If it gets any worse, the finalists won't even need to have a training camp - they'll be warmed up already when it starts.

[scott]

Well, on the issue of suspensions, I have always favored a simple solution that easily takes into account multiple offenders. Quite honestly why this hasn't been implemented is mind-boggling.

Why wouldn't any league/sport simply take the culmination of any previous discipline and add that to any new suspension. For example, a 3 time offender who has received a 4, 2 and say a 1 game suspension over the course of say the most recent 5 year window gets into a hearing situation. Let's say the incident involved is a head-shot, typical of a 3 game suspension. As a repeat offender, he would need to sit 10 games...the 3 plus the previous sum of 7.

Just examine the Matt Cooke rap-sheet...how many would he need to sit under this situation for his next hearing? Not enough to make him change his style, but certainly enough to assist the players fund and perhaps make it difficult for a team to risk signing him to a multi-year deal if they are hung with a salary cap hit for a suspended player.

[Axle Goalie]

I think if you want to punish someone based on the damage they've inflicted the intent to injure has to be there. U can straight up kill someone and walk away scot-free, so long as its an honest accident.

[Peter]

One more comment. If you're in favour of the perpetrator getting as much time off the game as the victim then you better also be in favour of capital punishment. It's the same concept. You kill someone, you get your life taken away. And it seems like Cox (and many others) want to see Bertuzzi's career end just like Moore's did. It's the same argument as supporting capital punishment.

[Mike]

The reason these so-called 'issues' never go away Cox, is because guys like you, Bobcat, Dowbiggen, & Roy 'please don't hit me' MacGregor rant daily about supposed infractions - thus we have an issues.
.
Thorton's hit, which you explicitly mention was not 'nasty' - it was a perfectly legal hit. However, since someone got injured, it was headlines across N. America for a week. So, who created the issue?

[80s Leafs]

I agree with the guy complaining about the late start and length of time for the Cup final series to be played. Start the thing on Monday night, and play every two days til it's done! Poor Kaberle, he must feel like he's on another planet, still playing NHL games in mid-June!