Articles

[hockeygod]

New technology chips in to help assess concussions

U.S. professor working on software to go in helmets

By Sean Fitz-Gerald, National Post February 3, 2011

A mechanical engineering professor in the United States hopes technology he is helping to develop – a chip that can analyze the brain's electrical "signature" – will allow athletic trainers to diagnose concussions as they occur on the field of play, in real time.

Dr. Hashem Ashrafiuon, who works at Villanova University's College of Engineering in suburban Philadelphia, has been using similar software in a study of post-traumatic stress disorder with the U.S. military. It has not been tested in sports, but he said the application would be obvious.

The chip could be planted inside hockey and football helmets, with sensors relaying data from the brain.

"When a person gets a concussion, usually they ask them to count or [ask] what day it is, or 'how many fingers' and things like that, and try to very informally assess if the person might have had concussion or not," Ashrafiuon said. "This, actually, can much more definitively predict whether there has been a concussion."

The technology, known as BCILab software, relies on a headset to monitor brain waves, where something as small as a blinking eyelash creates a signal. Ashrafiuon compares it to the results shown on a heart monitor, except more complex.

"It's not as clear-cut in the brain – cardiac is a lot easier to visualize – but it still has a signature that you can capture, mathematically," he said.

The idea is that the chip would store a sample of the brain activity recorded in an athlete before they stepped on the field, providing a baseline. Any abnormal results fed through the headset to a computer on the sidelines after a big hit could then be read by a trainer, who would know to pull the injured athlete aside.

As it stands, concussion diagnosis often falls to symptoms reported by the athletes. And athletes who want to continue to play might misrepresent or deny those symptoms in an effort to get back on the field.

Complicating matters is the fact many experts have said no two concussions are the same, which raises questions about how a mathematical analysis of brain waves could diagnose concussion. Ashrafiuon said the software remains in the development stage, though his team – which he said includes clinicians – has an eye to expanding into sports.

"We're sort of talking about the future," he said. "This is just what I envision."

He estimated trials in athletes could still be three or four years away, pending approval.

The issue of sports-related concussion has grown to prominence in the U.S. and Canada over the last four years, after a series of medical discoveries associated concussion with conditions such as depression, dementia and Alzheimer's. Chris Nowinski, a retired professional wrestler and football player, has been credited with helping to spur the findings with his advocacy in the U.S. He said he was aware of Ashrafiuon's work.

"I'm certainly hopeful for technological advances to be made in concussion diagnostics," he said Wednesday. "But, having been in this game now for eight years, I've heard a lot of promises. And so far, almost none have been fulfilled."

sfitzgerald@nationalpost.com
© Copyright (c) National Post

Dean
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[hockeygod]

Researcher: Raising the age for body checking a mistake

By ROBERT MacLEOD February 2, 2011
From Thursday's Globe and Mail

Higher number of serious injuries would result if plan implemented, Canadian professor warns

Increasing the age at which bodychecking is introduced into hockey could result in an escalation of serious injuries, a leading concussion researcher warns.

And surprisingly, Barry Willer also said the majority of hockey injuries occur as a result of incidental contact, not the deliberate act of one player trying to bodycheck another.

"I don't think the bodycheck should be the culprit it's made out to be," Willer said in an interview on Wednesday.

Willer, a Canadian who describes himself as a passionate hockey fan, is a professor at the University of Buffalo, where he is the director of research for the concussion clinic. He has been studying brain injuries for 25 years and was introduced to the issues of concussions in hockey in 1997 by Carl Lindros. Lindros's son, Brett, had his National Hockey League career cut short after suffering a number of concussions.

Willer didn't like a USA Hockey proposal that would make bodychecking illegal for players under 13.

"Personally, I think that would be a mistake," Willer said. "All you're doing is putting it [bodychecking] off and putting it off to an age where the players are bigger and stronger and have more testosterone. The injury rates will not only be higher, but I think more serious."

The USA Hockey proposal will be voted on at its annual congress in June and will be monitored closely by officials at Hockey Canada, which allows bodychecking to begin at the peewee level (aged 11 and 12).

The topic of when to introduce body contact to young hockey players has become a hot-button issue in amateur hockey circles as the prevalence of concussions appears to be on the rise.

John Gardner is the president of the Greater Toronto Hockey League, which boasts approximately 40,000 players on 2,800 teams.

"That's getting a little crazy," he said when asked for his thoughts on the USA Hockey proposal. "You wait until the kids get older, instead of it becoming an instinctive reaction or action, it becomes a mechanical one. And that's when the kids get hurt."

USA Hockey says its proposal is based on a series of studies, including research conducted by Carolyn Emery of the University of Calgary. Her study followed 2,000 peewee players over one season, half from Alberta, where bodychecking was permitted, and half from Quebec, where it was not.

In Alberta, 73 players reported concussions during the year compared to 20 in Quebec.

While lauding the Emery study, Willer said it did not go far enough to try to examine the underlying reason behind that increase.

Willer's study, which monitored the rates of injuries among roughly 3,000 kids who played in the Burlington Lions Minor Hockey Association over a five-year period, produced some surprising data.

The study, published last month, noted a "spike" in injuries among players in the first year that bodychecking was introduced. The report added that the majority of those injuries (66 per cent) were the result of "unintentional collisions" and not a result of a deliberate attempt to bodycheck.

Willer explained that "unintentional collisions" included players accidentally running into one another or injuring themselves when they fell to the ice, into the boards or goalposts.

Willer said his findings echo that of a study that was carried out in Kingston and released in 2009. The study looked into the effects of Hockey Canada's bodychecking rule in 2002, when body contact was allowed at the atom level (ages 9 to 11).

The report stated that "overall rates of injury to minor hockey players and also hockey injuries due to bodychecking were, in general, equivalent or even lower in the five years" after bodychecking was introduced at the younger age.

Both Willer and Gardner believe it is important to look at areas other than bodychecking when trying to come up with a solution to reduce the number of concussions.

Gardner believes it all starts with the National Hockey League, where head shots and hits from behind have captured plenty of headlines this season.

"Kids are copying what they see in the NHL," Gardner said. "I don't care what anybody says, that's a fact. And when the kids see it, they don't understand why they can't do it."

Dean
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Game Intelligence Training
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[hockeygod]

Soccer a no-lose proposition?

By Michael Platt, Calgary Sun

Last Updated: February 9, 2011

Trash the trophies, scrap the standings.

There’s no room for winners, champions or stars when no one is bothering to keep score — and scoreless games are the likely future for young soccer players in Calgary.

That’s the prediction of Calgary Minor Soccer Association boss Daryl Leinweber, when asked about a growing trend towards taking competition out of competitive sports, especially for kids 12 and under.

Manitoba is headed towards scoreless soccer, as confirmed by Sun Media earlier this week, and it seems Calgary is also getting ready to do away with league titles and season standings.

“Possibly, yes,” said Leinweber, executive director of the association.

The soccer boss says a decision on going fully scoreless will be made as early as June and he says there is a strong appetite for no longer counting goals as part of the Under-12 soccer game.

Right now, Under-10 teams in Calgary only record wins and losses, regardless of the score.

The new system would eradicate even that cotton-soft competition.

Other changes would include smaller pitches and fewer players per side, with equal playing time for all, no matter if the child is a budding Beckham, or a budding Bozo the Clown.

The official reason for deflating the importance of winning is an edict from Sport Canada, which seeks change in all youth sport, from tennis to track and field.

Called Long Term Athlete Development, the cradle-to-podium plan aims to make Canada an international sports powerhouse.

By reducing competition in the early stages, Sport Canada believes kids can focus on their skills instead.

At least, that’s the theory.

Logic may suggest winning is what motivates children to improve their skills in the first place — images of a young Wayne Gretzky toiling endlessly in his backyard rink spring to mind.

Alas, that’s apparently an archaic way of thinking — these days, the cloud of despair that comes with loss must be avoided, lest junior abandon the game.

Before you curse today’s kids as mollycoddled milksops, consider the real source of this defeatist angst — because it isn’t the players.

According to Leinweber, it’s not the children who want to scrap scoring, trophies and the like, but parents who can’t handle the notion of their offspring not winning.

“A lot of what we say today is not driven by the kids, it’s driven by the parents — it’s driven by the people who need to win,” said Leinweber.

“The kids themselves, when they play, know who wins and loses, even when no score is kept.”

Left up to the kids, in other words, the game would remain what it has always been — a win-lose prospect with risks and rewards, much like real life.

“It’s not necessarily the pressure of the kids on each other, it’s the pressures around them that have an influence,” said Leinweber.

Asked if fragile parental egos are to blame and he gives a straight-shooting answer.

“I would say so, yes,” said Leinweber.

It’s clear the soccer boss has mixed feelings about doing away with goals and standings, and Leinweber admits to being an old-fashioned guy — though he says more kids are staying in the game as a result of the trend.

“It’s an adjustment I have to make — we answer to our membership,” he said.

“We’ve adapted the game and seen it grow and so I think the changes have been very positive for the growth of the game and the growth of the sport.”

Which is all swell and good if the goal is fewer kids on the couch.

But this is supposed to be about making Canada an international competitor in soccer — the way it already is in hockey.

Hockey, incidentally, won’t be doing away with goals, or standings, or trophies.

Christina Rogers, spokeswoman for Hockey Calgary, says the system which moulds young players into the kind of athletes who go on to play in the NHL and Olympics is rooted in that drive to win.

“If there’s no winning, that doesn’t teach the kids to compete,” said Rogers.

Dean
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Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Hockey coach dislikes 'less-competitive' approach

By ROSS ROMANIUK, QMI Agency Feb 9 2011

WINNIPEG — At least one prominent Winnipeg hockey instructor is taking shots at a proposed Hockey Manitoba move toward a less competition-focused structure for young kids on the ice.

Billy Keane says he "struggles with the concept" of what the province's governing hockey organization is considering in stressing skills development over trophies for pre-teen players.

"To not nurture the competitive spirit, they've really got to be careful," he said, adding such a change could actually hamper player development rather than help. "There's a reason why there are beer leagues and competitive leagues at the adult level. When they're kids, it's still important to instill that competitive component."

Keane, who has long run Winnipeg hockey schools and is an older brother of retired NHL and AHL player Mike Keane, describes Manitoba as a "leader in the last 10 years" in Canada's development of young players — so if the system isn't broken, he says, don't fix it.

"We've put a lot of our Manitobans on the provincial and national stage, and for good reason," he said. "Why change it?"

Hockey Manitoba president Brian Franklin said Monday it's a "strong possibility" that the organization will move toward a greater focus on development and participation than on competition for players at younger ages.

Details haven't been worked out, though Hockey Manitoba executive director Peter Woods said such a move would be co-ordinated "hand in hand" with Hockey Canada, and would not "completely remove the competitiveness of the game by not keeping score or statistics."

Rather, Woods stressed, the change would be aimed at providing young players with more opportunities to develop than through game situations, and even improve their skills.

"A lot of athletes are competing on 12-month scales at a very early age, and are exposed to burnout, muscle overuse or injuries," he said. "Athletes have a tendency to maybe get burned out at a younger age, and the model they're proposing … is an opportunity for a complete athlete to be developed," he added.

Brad Rice, co-owner of Winnipeg hockey training facility The Rink, echoed Keane's concerns about making changes. If the system could be improved to better develop players, he suggested, it's in providing a more equitable amount of practice ice for teams across the city.

"They hand out schedules of when you play," Rice said. "They could do more to co-ordinate practice ice."

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Please, let's end the craziness

Gregg Drinnan Thursday, February 10, 2011

Bob Clarke has become the voice of reason in the debate over headshots and ugly hits that is dominating conversation about the game of hockey.

Clarke, who went by Bobby when he was a whacking and hacking point machine with the Philadelphia Flyers (aka the Broad Street Bullies) back in the day, has been telling people that the puck has become irrelevant.

And he is correct.

Players today are more concerned with eliminating an opponent than they are with gaining possession of the puck. And, hey, if that opponent gets injured, well, gee, hockey is a physical game.

But there are times — hello there, Matt Cooke! — when you wonder if hockey isn’t on its way to becoming UFC on skates.

You watch as forward Daniel Paille of the Boston Bruins launches himself at Dallas Stars winger Raymond Sawada and you notice that the puck is right there, three or four feet in front of Sawada. However, Paille ignores it. That’s because the name of the game far too often is to try to separate the opposing player from his head rather than the puck.

And there is Cooke, who plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins. One night he is initiating knee-to-knee contact with Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin. A couple of nights later, he is launching himself at Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman Fedor Tyutin.

(Remember when Cooke played for the Vancouver Canucks and everyone loved the Cooker? That doesn’t seem to be the case any more as the Twitterverse lit up with Cooke-related vitriol on Wednesday.)

We saw it right here in Kamloops on Friday night when defenceman Brandon Manning of the Chilliwack Bruins went in on the forecheck and hammered Blazers defenceman Austin Madaisky.

Manning had dumped the puck into Madaisky’s corner and, as the Kamloops defender turned, Manning streaked across the zone. Manning, completely ignoring the puck, initiated contact and that momentum spun Madaisky around, which meant he crashed awkwardly into the end boards, his back taking the brunt of the impact.

This wasn’t a case of one slug hammering another. Manning, 20, has signed a free-agent deal with the Flyers. In his three WHL seasons, the Prince George native has become known as an offensive defenceman who won’t shy away from the rough stuff. Madaisky, 18, was a fifth-round selection by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2010 NHL draft and arguably has been the Blazers’ best defenceman.

That isn’t the case any longer, however, as Madaisky came out of that collision with a fractured C-7 vertebrae and won’t play again this season. He is fortunate that he still is able to walk.

Colin Campbell, who doles out discipline on behalf of Gary Bettman’s NHL, suspended Paille for four games. Coincidentally, Cooke also drew a four-game suspension.

Richard Doerksen, who is the WHL’s disciplinarian, handed Manning a seven-game suspension.

Men like Campbell and Doerksen are charged with a huge responsibility. They want to be fair and, at the same time, they want to make the punishment fit the crime.

That being the case, the time has come for them to lower the boom.

Four- and seven-game suspensions simply aren’t enough when one player shows such a lack of respect for another.

In the first eight days of February, the WHL played 35 games over five nights. According to the WHL’s online scoresheets, referees handed out 15 minor penalties and one major for checking from behind. That doesn’t count other incidents, such as charging or boarding, during which players — like Madaisky — were put at risk.

It is time, too, to stop categorizing these hits as headshots, hits from behind, etc. They all are dangerous hits and should be treated as such.

Brad Hornung, then a centre with the Regina Pats, was hit from behind on March 1, 1987. Left a quadriplegic, he has been in a wheelchair ever since that horrific night.

I was covering that game for the Regina Leader-Post and can tell you that the check by Moose Jaw Warriors forward Troy Edwards wasn’t anywhere near as violent or as frightening as much of what we see today. In fact, it was more of a nudge in the back than a hit from behind.

But heaven forbid anyone should have to go through what Hornung and Edwards did in the aftermath of that hit. Yes, there were two victims that night; they and their families both experienced their own versions of living hell.

But it is obvious today that the message isn’t getting through. There are far too many of these incidents and it’s only been through a stroke of luck that no one has been seriously injured. Although you can certainly make a case that Madaisky, who now is wearing a cervical collar, was seriously injured.

Earlier this season, Doerksen suspended Tri-City Americans forward Brendan Shinnimin for 12 games for an ugly hit on Josh Nicholls of the Saskatoon Blades. Nicholls was left with a concussion and missed only one game because the Blades were in a soft spot in their schedule.

Defenceman Wes Vannieuwenhuizen of the Vancouver Giants drew a seven-game sentence after he drilled Chilliwack forward Robin Soudek from behind on Nov. 11. A concussed Soudek sat out four games.

It would seem then that (a) Manning got off rather lightly, and (b) the message simply isn’t getting through to teams and players.
The onus then is on Doerksen to up the ante. Sooner or later, he is going to have to drop a 20-game bomb on someone, or perhaps end someone’s season.

Please, Mr. Doerksen, do it before more seasons end the way Austin Madaisky’s did.

Or worse.

(Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca and gdrinnan.blogspot.com. You are able to follow him at twitter.com/gdrinnan)

Dean
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Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

A Battle Across the Border in Recruiting

By ANDREW PODNIEKS New York Times February 9, 2011

Patrick McCarron, 16, is a defenseman with the St. Michael’s Buzzers in Toronto, a team owned by his father that plays in provincial Junior A hockey. Last summer, McCarron was drafted by the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League. The Generals put a contract in front of him, but he would not sign it.

“I told them I didn’t want to sign yet because I’d lose my N.C.A.A. eligibility,” McCarron said, “and I was seriously considering going the college route.”

In the eyes of the N.C.A.A., playing major junior hockey in Canada is considered professional, and increasingly young Canadian players are weighing their options.

The number of Americans playing in Canada’s major junior leagues has been growing for years, and American colleges are increasingly fighting back by recruiting Canadian players.

According to Paul Kelly, executive director of College Hockey Inc., there were 67 American players in Canada’s junior leagues six years ago. Now, he said, there are 131.

“As a result, there was a feeling among college coaches that the N.C.A.A. product had become diluted,” Kelly said, adding that that was why College Hockey hired him. He works for the six conferences that comprise N.C.A.A. Division I hockey in an effort to counter the Canadian Hockey League’s encroachment on American talent.

The C.H.L. is an umbrella organization for three Canadian leagues: the Western Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The C.H.L. has developed more pro hockey players than any other organization in the world, primarily for the N.H.L.

“My objective is twofold: to stem the flow of players leaving for the C.H.L. and to attract elite Canadians to college hockey,” said Kelly, a former chief of the N.H.L. players union.

Kelly’s job is complicated by the C.H.L.’s history and tradition — and the allure of being the most successful route to the N.H.L.

“We are the No. 1 development league in the world,” C.H.L. Commissioner David Branch said in a telephone interview from Toronto. “We offer the best coaching, most advanced technology, finest facilities, most competitive environment, academic advisers and every aspect of nutrition, psychology and antidoping.”

Kelly acknowledges the traditional role of junior hockey in Canada. “But times change,” he said. “There are other options now. Recruiting from both sides of the border has ramped up significantly because we are both trying to attract the same pool of elite players. You have about 60 teams in the C.H.L. and 60 teams in Division I, and they all want the best players. There is unavoidable tension.

“All we can do is explain all options to a kid and tell him not to give up eligibility too soon. For some players, the C.H.L. is absolutely the way to go, but for many others, if you can get an education and play hockey, college is the better route.”

Kelly’s best example might be the Chicago Blackhawks’ captain, Jonathan Toews, who is from Winnipeg, Manitoba, but who chose to play at North Dakota for two seasons before being selected third over all in the 2006 N.H.L. draft.

Kelly points out that only 6 percent of players in the college and major junior ranks will ever play in the N.H.L.

“These are daunting odds,” he said. “If I’m in a room with 100 people and I tell a kid that only six will make it, he’ll say he’s one of them, and he doesn’t care who the other five are. At 16, every kid thinks he’ll play in the N.H.L.”

On one hand, Kelly is offering an education as well as a hockey experience. On the other, he is challenging a tradition of getting to the N.H.L. as old as the N.H.L. itself.

Ultimately, McCarron went the college route.

“For me, N.C.A.A. is going to be the best choice,” he said. “I’ll come out of college with a degree, and if I want to take a run at the N.H.L., I can. If it doesn’t work out, I still have that piece of paper in my hand and can get a job.”

Kelly held what he called a summit in Toronto last September, the first in Canada, with 25 college coaches there to scout and answer questions. He said 71 players from the Greater Toronto Hockey League attended, McCarron being one of them. He called it “a real eye-opener.”

“A lot of the kids had no idea that college was an option,” he said. “For them, it’s all O.H.L., O.H.L., O.H.L., but they don’t know that 30 percent of players in the N.H.L. went to college.”

That number reflects Canadians and Americans. Of 1,568 Division I players this year, 481 are Canadian.

Branch, though, promoted the education package offered players in the Canadian junior leagues, including a full scholarship for four years at a Canadian college for players who decide not to turn pro. Players in the C.H.L. earn a minimum of $335 a week and receive meal money.

“We feel our education package is not only the best in North America but probably the world,” Branch said.

The recruiting battle for players has not been universally welcomed.

Bob Nicholson, president of Hockey Canada, which oversees every aspect of hockey in the country, from grass-roots development to the selection of Olympics rosters, said that he supported Kelly’s efforts and that the two have a respectful relationship, but, he added, “What I would like to see is for college hockey to stay out of Canada and for C.H.L. teams to stay out of the U.S.”

Nicholson has just sent a recruiting protocol agreement to USA Hockey in the hope of defining the process better, although he admitted that was probably unenforceable.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

TOM RENNEY:
FROM THE CANADA GAMES TO THE NHL,
VIA THE CANADIAN OLYMPIC TEAM

by Coaches of Canada February 4, 2011

What was the catalyst for you to pursue coaching as a career?

TR: I started to identify with coaching when I was attending the University of North Dakota in the mid-70’s. Like most Canadian kids, I hoped to play in the National Hockey League, but coaching seemed the more legitimate shot to get to the NHL since I was on the small side for a defenseman.

Father David Bauer was an important role model to me. I recall how impressed I was that a priest would be coaching the Canadian National Team. I was impressed by the fact that a man of the cloth was speaking of the virtues of commitment, perseverance, sacrifice, and the pursuit of excellence through hockey. Ultimately and over time, I understood that these were important virtues for me to pursue in my journey through coaching, and I have Father Bauer to thank for that. He was the first coach I had ever heard speak of and demonstrate those most valuable coaching essentials.

Prior to leaving school, I recall writing down the five things I wanted to have accomplished by the time I was thirty five years old. One being, coach Canada’s National Hockey Team. In 1993 I was named head coach of the Canadian Men’s Olympic Hockey Team, destination Lillehammer, Norway.

Can you outline the pathway you took to get to the Canada Games as a hockey coach?

TR: Through the B.C. Best Ever program I had been given many terrific opportunities, one of which was coaching British Columbia’s entry in the Canada Winter Games in Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia in 1987. I had been coaching the Trail Junior Smoke Eaters in the Kootenay International Hockey League in the mid- to late-80s, and had met with some reasonable success. I had attended and successfully participated in the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) during the 80s, and was chosen along with Derek Spring of Cranbrook to co-coach Team B.C. It was a unique and exhilarating experience in every way, and served to “set the hook” in what would be my life’s passion: coaching.

How did your coaching experience at the Canada Games set the stage for coaching at the next level?

TR: It was the Canada Games experience that convinced me that coaching in the highest competitive stream possible was what I wanted to do, and to coach the Canadian Olympic Team was my goal. Since a visit to my minor hockey banquet in Cranbrook, B.C., in 1967 by Father David Bauer, the then coach of Team Canada, I could identify with coaching, and would often think of that visit. And I actually still do when it comes to my continued motivation to coach. From the Canada Winter Games, came the Quebec Esso Cup, the national under-17 festival, the National Under-18 Team, National Junior Team, National Teams, Olympic Teams and numerous IIHF World Championship teams, and luckily enough, the National Hockey League … all as a head coach. All in all, I have coached in 10 world championships and Olympics for Canada. I feel very lucky.

How would you sum up your coaching career to this point in your life?

TR: When I think back on my coaching career the one thing I really hoped to do was help win a gold medal for my country. We came oh so close in Lillehammer in 1994. With under two minutes to go, we were ahead of the Swedes 2-1 when we were called for a holding penalty. We were crushed when they scored to tie the game at two and although we pushed as hard as we could to win, the famous Peter Forsberg goal in the first shootout in Olympic history erased any hope of Canada’s first gold medal in hockey in 39 years. This feat would finally be recognized by Team Canada in Salt Lake City in 2002. The great irony from a personal point of view is that I was never driven to coach in the NHL … only for my country. Coaching in the NHL appears to a by-product of that determination and drive.
—–

On June 22, 2010, Tom Renney became the 10th head coach in Edmonton Oilers’ franchise history, after joining the Oilers as an associate coach for the 2009-10 season.

Tom spent the previous nine seasons with the New York Rangers, the last four as their head coach. After being named the 33rd head coach in franchise history on July 6, 2004, he led the Rangers to 40-or-more wins in three consecutive seasons, a feat last accomplished by the club in 1974. Over the course of 327 games he guided the Rangers to a 164-117-0-46 record including three straight post-season appearances from 2005-08; the second best winning percentage in the history of the Rangers, behind only Emile Francis.

Recently, Tom has served his country on Team Canada’s coaching staff at the 2004 and 2005 IIHF World Championships. At the 2004 tournament in Czech Republic, he helped guide the team to Canada’s second consecutive gold medal at the prestigious tournament. In 2005, Tom and Team Canada once again appeared in the gold medal game, but were left with the silver medal after falling to the Czech Republic.

Tom and his wife Glenda have two daughters, Jessica and Jamie.

Dean
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Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[Tom Molloy]

Coaching the elements of puck protection

This week;s guest writer is Ted Belisle, assistant coach at Bemidji State University. Ted played at BSU from 1997-2001 (captain in 2001) then worked in the USHL for two years before joining his alma mater as an assistant coach in 2007. He is also the BSU recruiting coordinator.

By Ted Belisle

Bemidji State University

During the Edmonton Oilers; 2006 run to the Stanley Cup, a question was posed to then-head coach Craig McTavish about his definition of the perfect player. His answer was, ;My definition of the perfect player is one whom the play never dies with&#; His answer made so much sense to me and is a great mindset leading into the topic of teaching puck protection.

When I watch youth and high school players doing puck protection drills during practice, the most popular drill I see is a player with the puck standing on a faceoff dot, fending off an opposing player by standing still. While the drill does allow a player to learn how to fend off a defender, it ignores the single most important element of puck protection creating time and space! There are more elements of puck protection that a player must understand in order to become one of those players ;whom the play never dies with
To teach puck protection properly, we must understand the main reason as to why we protect the puck! A player protects the puck to create enough time and space from the defender in order to make the next play. In order to create time and space, I believe that there are five elements of puck protection that enable a player to become a very good puck protector.

1. Teaching the ;puck safe zone
The first element that must be taught is recognition of the ;puck safe zone.; My definition of the puck safe zone is: any area in which the defender cannot reach the puck!

A great puck protector always understands that the odds of losing possession of the puck increase substantially when the puck is fronted or exposed to the reach of the defender;s stick.

The ;puck safe zone; changes constantly, depending on body position, reach of the defender and placement of the puck. Being able to handle the puck quickly into the safe zone (away from the defender;s reach) will help maintain puck possession and the ability to make the next play.

A phrase I use a lot to our players is, ;Don;t front the puck.; When a player fronts the puck, they are immediately exposing themselves and are at greater risk of losing possession of the puck within the reach of the defender.

2. How to create a body shield

With the days of ;hitting and pinning; behind us, the puck carrier has more ability to maintain a safe zone that creates more possession time. The most efficient way to create a safe zone is to create a ;body shield&; between you and the defender.

Creating the ;body shield; is quite simply putting your body between the defender and the puck. The easiest way to create a body shield is to pivot your backside into the defender. This will prevent the defender from being able to enter the player�s safe zone. The puck possessor has now created separation from the defender and should be able to keep their head up and look for the next play.

3. Fending off the defender

After creating a ;puck safe zone; with a ;body shield,; we must be able to prevent the defender from gaining access to the ;puck safe zone.; The puck carrier must learn the element of how to fend off a defender;s attempt to gain possession of our puck.

The puck protector can fend off a defender by using their body to prevent access of the defenders stick into the ;puck safe zone; Focus on teaching the player how to use their own arms and legs to fend off advances by the defender. It is important to create this habit in a player for successful puck protection.

In order for the puck protector to successfully use arms and legs to fend of defenders, it is very important to teach players the skill of handling the puck with one hand. As coaches, we must incorporate drills in which a player handles the puck while using only their top hand or bottom hand.

4. Leveraging the wall

There are times when defenders still find a way to get an opposing player pinned or pinched along the boards. To develop an excellent puck protector, we must teach them how to use the wall (boards) to their advantage. We do this by using the wall as leverage.

The best way to use the wall as leverage is by using both of your hands to push off the wall. This is very much like a push-up or a bench press motion. While we push away from the wall we must also simultaneously push our backside into the defender to create more time and space from the wall to make the next play. By leveraging the wall, we can create enough time and space along the wall to make the next play and keep possession of the puck.

5. Cut-backs:

I believe the ;cut-back; is the most important element of puck protection we can teach. The ;cut-back; incorporates using legs and speed to help create more time and space in order to make the next play. The use of ;cut-backs; enables the puck protector to create ice behind them to escape into by turning away from the defender while not fronting the puck. ;Cut-backs; use misdirection by quickly utilizing a ;C; cut in the ice to change direction away from the defender to create more time and space.

To successfully use the ;cut-back,; we must teach the proper elements. The puck carrier must use deception in order to get the opposing player committed to defending a certain area. I call this ;selling the cutback.;

We must bait the defender into thinking we are attacking the ice in a certain direction. We accomplish this by ;staying busy; and attacking an area while keeping the puck in the safe zone, using our body as a shield and fending off the defender;s advances. By attacking a certain area, we are forcing the defender to protect the area that we are skating into. As such, we have sold the defender on protecting that area.

When the defender commits to that area, we have created ice behind us to cut-back into. When the puck protector decides to cut-back, it is very important to teach them to stay busy and attack the other direction.

While attacking the other direction, they have created enough time and space to make the next play while continuing to use the other elements to maintain the possession of the puck. A player can use many ;cut-backs; in a single possession of the puck until the next play is available.

The best way to teach these habits is by using resistance drills with space to roam. Allow your players to use these habits all together while moving their feet, thus creating more time and space.

You can use one-on-one drills, but some of the best ways to teach puck possession is by creating outnumbered situations. For example have a 1vs2 drill in a corner or a 2vs3 drill low, in which there are more defenders than puck protectors. These drills isolate the emphasis on puck protection and force the puck carrier to have tough odds in maintaining possession of the puck.

Let's Play Hockey wants to publish your hockey stories. From tournament reports, to feature stories on teams, players or coaches, to opinion pieces on the game of hockey, Let;s Play Hockey accepts submissions from readers throughout the hockey community. To submit your hockey story and/or photo(s), e-mail us at editor@letsplayhockey.com.

'The Game is the Greatest Coach'
'Enjoy the Game'

[hockeygod]

(Ironically, this was written PRIOR to the Islanders / Pens brawl, according to the author…)
—–

How to break Neanderthals' grip on hockey?

By ROY MACGREGOR
From Saturday's Globe and Mail February 11, 2011

Head shots are a polarizing issue that's ruining a child's game

If hockey is truly "a man's game," then why are the games brought to us by Cialis and Viagra?

Erectile dysfunction appears to have become to the modern National Hockey League what Imperial Esso's "Happy Motoring" once was to the Original Six – Viagra plastered to the rink boards, Cialis wink-wink ads filling every stop in play on the television, Levitra promising you'll be ready to play should the coach tap you on the shoulder …

This has been another terrible week for the "man's game." Despite unprecedented criticism of professional hockey's unwillingness to address a matter that is threatening its players, the situation continues unabated: New Jersey's Anton Volchenkov suspended three games for a head shot to Zach Boychuk of the Carolina Hurricanes; Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke (hockey's serial offender) suspended four games for leaving his feet in an attempt to crush the cranium of Columbus defenceman Fedor Tyutin from behind.

It was a week in which one elite player, Marc Savard, packed it in for the season due to concussion, a week in which rumours spread concerning the game's most elite player, Sidney Crosby, possibly losing the remainder of what should have been his greatest season to concussion.

And it was a week in which one sensible player, Boston's Andrew Ference, was attacked on Hockey Night in Canada for daring to say a head shot delivered by teammate Daniel Paillé on the Dallas Stars' Raymond Sawada was "a bad hit."

A wonderful week, indeed, to head into the CBC's Hockey Day in Canada, in which the national game will be sentimentalized, lionized, glorified and worshipped.

It is a great game, but it surely needs some work.

The problem is that head shots have become the global warming of hockey, a polarizing issue that pits the disbelievers against the believers, with no results to show for all the braying back and forth.

Hockey Night in Canada, with its vast array of old-school thinkers, has become Fox News. The mainstream media, with their editorials demanding action against head shots, have become Al Gore.

So nothing ever seems to get done.

The loudest shouting has come from the naysayers. Mike Milbury has groaned about the "pansification" of the game and dismissed those who disagree with him as "soccer moms." Don Cherry – who began his media career with Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em videos – blows a gasket over Ference speaking his mind, suggesting it breaks some imagined "code" of the sacred hockey dressing room.

The quieter voices are more numerous, but have gained little. The NHL did bring in a specific rule against blatant headhunting, but still lags far behind other team sports when it comes to offering protection for vulnerable brains.

For weeks the debate has been about what happened to Sidney Crosby's head, whether the concussive blow was delivered, perhaps by accident, by Washington's David Steckel during the New Year's Winter Classic or by intent when Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman crushed him into the boards a few days later.

No longer. Instead of looking back, the hockey world now looks ahead: When will Sidney Crosby come back? Will he come back at all this year?

He himself says he expects to, but can offer no date. "There's no timetable," he said on Thursday. "I hope I'm back."

So should the league. Crosby was in the midst of a seminal year. He was running away with the scoring race. He had just come off a 25-game scoring streak when the first blow landed at the Winter Classic. His only serious rival over the past few years, Alexander Ovechkin, had been reduced to star status from superstar – of which hockey now had only one.

While hockey is a team game and golf an individual sport, comparing Sidney Crosby's impact on hockey in 2010-11 is not that much of a stretch from Tiger Woods's impact on golf in the years leading up to his self-inflicted blow to his image. When Woods departed the golf scene for a significant time, the PGA went into freefall in terms of interest and TV viewership. The falloff would not be so dramatic if Crosby were lost for the season, but it would be significant. The Crosby-Ovechkin storyline had been compelling for years; that storyline is, for the moment, lost.

It is no stretch at all, however, to compare Crosby's concussion problems to those of earlier players such as Paul Kariya and Eric Lindros. Kariya, it will be recalled, was on the cusp of NHL superstardom when he was struck down. Lindros had reached NHL superstardom when he suffered the first of several concussions. Neither was ever to reach those heights again.

It could be, before all this is over, that Sidney Crosby's greatest contribution to the game will not be the Olympic gold-medal winning goal of a year ago, but his sad situation forcing the NHL – the braying naysayers included – to wake up to what hits to the head have done and are doing to hockey.

It's not a man's game at all.

It's a child's game.

And it has become dysfunctional.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

From outsider to QMJHL scout

By SEAN GORDON
From Saturday's Globe and Mail February 11, 2011

The life of a hockey bird-dog isn't glamorous. It starts with a love of the sport, is nurtured with strong opinions and lastly, paying attention, alone, to many, many games involving young players

He's seen their eyes glaze over, heard the mumbled excuses from friends who had wearied of being prodded to go sit in out-of-the-way arenas to watch midget hockey.

This particular passion, he quickly realized, was one he'd mostly have to follow on his own.

But a couple of decades later, Simon Boisvert wouldn't have it any other way.

The 45-year-old translator and model of persistence has fulfilled a lifelong ambition by working his way into the cloistered world that is big-time hockey.

And he's done it in a thoroughly modern way – his Lana Turner soda-fountain moment coming courtesy of the comments section on a popular Quebec hockey blog.

Boisvert, you see, recently landed a paying gig as a part-time scout for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

But unlike most people in the hockey industry, he has never played, never coached, never volunteered in a minor hockey association.

He stands as the embodiment of every hard-core fan's dream: an uber-passionate and freakishly knowledgeable outsider who managed to get professional hockey people to actually listen to what he has to say.

And he has quite a lot to say.

As in: Scouts often lack the imagination to spot subtleties … veteran free agents are almost always over-priced and almost never worth it … most general-managers are determinedly following yesterday's trends … goalies should never be drafted in the first round.

"It used to make my teeth grate in the early 2000s when I'd see a team pick a Rick DiPietro or a Kari Lehtonen with the first or second pick overall … last year you had [Philadelphia's Michael] Leighton and [Chicago's Antti] Niemi in the Cup final, and all of a sudden everyone started saying 'you don't need an elite goalie to win.' I was saying that 10 years ago, and people would throw tomatoes at me," said Boisvert, who lives in Montreal's north end.

The gregarious, animated Boisvert, a high-energy type who owns his translation business, is perhaps best described as a free thinker – not a quality frequently associated with the hockey industry.

But it's what made Richard Liboiron, the Screaming Eagles's director of hockey operations, sit up and take notice.

"I was struck by just how passionate he is," said Liboiron, who agreed to meet with Boisvert on a lark last autumn, and essentially ended up hiring him on the spot 90 minutes later. "He has a lot of interesting ideas and very impressive knowledge of players. I call it a hard disk in his head."

While Liboiron is the first to acknowledge most of the people who work in and around major junior and pro leagues follow the more conventional path – through connections, word-of-mouth, working with former teammates and coaches and the like – but adds he's always been attracted to original thinkers.

"Anyone can follow the template and give you the empirical information, it's much harder to find people who can give a detailed overall picture and extrapolate a given player's profile," Liboiron said. "Simon can do that. His reports are like a turnkey project – it's all there, just move in."

From the first time he sent him to check out players on a trial basis, Liboiron says he could tell he and Boisvert were on the same wavelength.

And Cape Breton, currently languishing in 16th place in the 18-team QMJHL, can use all the help it can find in digging up uncut gems.

Boisvert is eager to pitch in, but he also has a broader goal: to become a chief scout or GM in the QMJHL, or a chief scout in the NHL.

And if Boisvert can harbour those ambitions – which Liboiron suggests are reasonable if he's prepared to be patient – it's due in part to alter ego Snake70, his handle on the blog run by Mathias Brunet, a hockey columnist at La Presse who often writes about junior and minor-league prospects.

Snake70 began standing out a couple of years ago as an acerbic and aggressively opinionated voice who trashed other commentators with panache and delighted in demolishing conventional wisdom.

The ad hominem attacks were an act, the crusades against the hockey consensus weren't (he has since retired Snake70 in favour of a regular satellite-radio gig).

Brunet, who is friendly with Liboiron, eventually put the two in touch.

Among the Snake's many predictions: for all the hype, the best player of the 2009 draft wouldn't be top picks John Tavares or Victor Hedman, but Matt Duchene, picked third overall. So far, he's right.

In 2010, Snake harangued commentators who were touting one of Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin as the best prospect, arguing the true franchise player in the draft was a certain Jeff Skinner, picked seventh overall by the Carolina Hurricanes – a surprise in itself, most observers had him as a mid to late first-round pick.

"Almost all the pro scouts saw Skinner as a second-line, 20- or 22-goal guy. I always saw him as a top-line, 40 to 50 goal guy," said Boisvert, who wouldn't have hesitated to pick Skinner first or second overall.

And unlike many armchair prognosticators, Boisvert didn't content himself with just watching the kid on television or YouTube, he decided one weekend to drive to Kingston, Ont., to see him live. Then, a few weeks later, made a second trip.

"What can I say, I just had to see if I was right about my impressions," Boisvert said.

Skinner's rookie numbers are eloquent testimony that he was.

Evaluation is something that comes naturally to Boisvert, who studied commerce and actuarial mathematics at Montreal's Concordia University.

By then Boisvert was already a massive hockey fan and nurturing his ambitions ("it sounds dumb when you say it, but it was addictive, like a drug, I was going to an industrial quantity of midget and bantam games on weekends").

His fascination with hockey began as an eight-year-old in the early 1970s, when he used to go see Norm Dupont and Mario Tremblay light it up for the QMJHL Montreal Bleu Blanc Rouge with his dad.

"Even then I was trying to predict which guys would be good as pros and which ones wouldn't," he said.

In his 20s, Boisvert contacted dozens of hockey and baseball teams – he is also a huge baseball nut, and was once asked by a friend to give a pep talk to a fellow-traveller. Things worked out okay for the kid in question (it was Toronto Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos).

Then followed years of cold-calls and faxing résumés – getting a rejection letter was a minor triumph, most just ignored him (in the end he decided to go into translating).

Through it all, Boisvert kept going to games and honed his evaluative approach, which blends empirical, on-ice factors with intangibles and more esoteric methods.

"The real skill is in projecting how a player is going to develop … I'm always trying to think a few years ahead, how teams are going to be built and how that will influence the market," he said.

Boisvert has also assimilated the basic Moneyball lessons: prize factors others underestimate, ignore what the others overevaluate, and don't buy into reputations.

"I try and run against the herd," he said.

Boisvert doesn't need a GPS to find obscure arenas. He's been to them all in the course of his quixotic quest.

And lately, his longtime girlfriend has developed a stronger interest in the game, so he doesn't sit alone as much as he once did.

In fact, at a recent midget tournament, she pointed out a player she liked ("it kind of shook me up, because I hadn't even noticed him," he said).

"Listen, if people like Richard were open-minded enough to listen to me, I have to keep an open mind too, right?" he said. "And she was right."

Boisvert won't reveal anything about the player, lest the other scouts catch a whiff.

And his approach has already paid at least one dividend for his new employers: the Eagles this week added a U.S.-based player, whom Boisvert uncovered, to their protected list.

No other team had yet contacted him, and Boisvert spotted him watching games on the Internet.

"I think he's good enough to play on the top line," he said. "But that's just my opinion."

CTVglobemedia Publishing, Inc

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Hockey Canada targeting immigrants' kids to counter declining enrolment

By Dale Oviatt, Postmedia News February 14, 2011

OTTAWA — It's Canada's game. But for how much longer?

Alarmed by sliding enrolment in minor hockey programs across the country, Hockey Canada is launching a charm offensive in a dozen languages, targeting the households of recent immigrants and First Nations families to boost the number of Canadian kids strapping on skates.

Minor hockey registration continues to be on a downward spiral and there are concerns that in the next 10 years, there could be 200,000 fewer kids playing the sport in this country.

"Through the trending we've gone through here, we feel that by 2020-21 if we continue to do what we are doing, we're going to have 360,000 members as opposed to 560,000 members," said Hockey Canada's vice-president of member services Glen McCurdie from his Ottawa office. "That's a fairly significant decrease in numbers over the next 10 years. From our perspective, it's time to change the way that we are doing stuff."

For the first time, Hockey Canada's annual planner, which is mailed to registered minor hockey players under the age of 10, is available in 12 languages.

In addition to the traditional English and French versions, the planners — which are also available for download at hockeycanada.ca — come in Arabic, Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), Cree, German, Inuktitut, Italian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Spanish and Tagalog.

Hockey Canada used Canadian census figures to determine their focus.

The mail-outs, which were sent last month to more than 235,000 players from coast to coast, feature a personalized Hockey Canada season planner with hockey-related activities and comic strips.

"This is pretty exciting for us to have done translation in that many different languages," said McCurdie. "Hopefully the benefits (have) some spinoff when we have new Canadians at least thinking about hockey. That's a start for potentially down the road."

This is the fourth year the mail-outs, which also includes pins and stickers, have been sent to young Canadian hockey players.

"When we got into it, we realized that there was a little bit of power here that we could use from the mail out that extended beyond our own members," said McCurdie. "We had anecdotal situations that came back to us, where kids were taking their mail outs to school and showing other kids and creating a bit of a buzz that way.

"From our perspective, it's now serving three purposes. One is an affinity with the national body, but it also has a recruitment angle to it where other kids that are seeing it are excited about the possibility of playing. And I think our members in that age group certainly feel like they are part of something bigger and it's something they might want to stay involved in more readily with stuff like this going on."

Canadian minor hockey registration peaked in 2008-09 when 584,679 players were taking part. Last year, the number dropped to 577,077. This year, it's expected to drop by a further one per cent when the final numbers are determined near the end of the month.

The number of outside influences distracting kids from hockey these days is huge: the Internet, video games, social media, and even other sports.

"We recognized fairly quickly that there is a decreasing pool of kids in the five to 19 age group and that trend was continuing on at a fairly rapid pace here," said McCurdie. "Really, the only increase in population across the country . . . is through immigration.

"We were sort of an organization that is used to, very honestly, opening up our doors and having people flock to us. We've never really been in a boat where we needed to recruit players. I think that's a mindset that we need to get our (provincial) organizations more on board with."

In the eyes of Hockey Canada, getting people on skates is the first step, and that could mean working together with Skate Canada (figure skating), ringette and speedskating to get the message out.

"We feel if we are able to even get kids on skates, we've done our job," said McCurdie. "Hockey is such a part of our country, it's such a vibrant sport, that if we can get people onto skates, that the natural flow will be for them to try hockey at some point."

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[DMan]

Just for laughs…….

NHL Simply Not Going To Bother Reaching Out To Hispanics

Hope you guys are enjoying your seasons.

[hockeygod]

DMan wrote:
Just for laughs…….

NHL Simply Not Going To Bother Reaching Out To Hispanics

Hope you guys are enjoying your seasons.

Dave, That is funny (true enough that Bettman cannot figure out how to connect with white people!) I love the Onion… have not read it for years… kind of forgot about it I guess… neat that you found this article!

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[DMan]

Here's another interesting one from Daniel Coyle:
The Power of Crumminess

[hockeygod]

NHL engages ridicule defence

By ROY MACGREGOR
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail February 14, 2011

In shouting down Lemieux, like those who spoke out before him, hockey invites upon itself a blow that could concuss the game

Mario Lemieux, say hello to Senator Hartland Molson.

Some may imagine the owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins is the first NHL owner to speak out against gratuitous violence in the game – "a travesty," Lemieux called Friday night's WWE match between his Pens and the New York Islanders – but Molson beat him by a half-century.

Call me a "pantywaist" if you must, the owner of the Montreal Canadiens told his fellow NHL governors. But also call the rules. Put an end to the mayhem.

"I cannot see any argument," he said, "against criticism of unnecessary roughness."

No argument required, of course – his suggestions were beaten down by the same tool that is being used against Lemieux: ridicule.

Lemieux's tantrum – an Internet posting in which he said the Friday Fiasco made him wonder whether he even wanted "to be a part" of the NHL any more – certainly could have used a little self-flagellation over his own dirty team and, in particular, the antics over the past few years of Pittsburgh's serial offender, Matt Cooke. But simply to dismiss the Penguins owner as a hypocrite is too easy, too convenient for those who use ridicule to butt-end every mouth that opens against violence in hockey.

Speaking out is hardly new to this national game.

As far back as 1904, Ontario hockey head John Ross Robertson was warning that if they didn't clean up the game they would soon have to call in the coroner.

That happened three years later in Cornwall, Ont., when Charles Masson killed Bud McCourt with a blow to the head. The jury recommended that laws be brought in – not hockey rules, but real law – to ensure those engaged in foul play "be severely punished."

It never happened, of course.

As for NHL owners, few thought along the lines of Molson or Lemieux. New York Rangers boss Tex Rickard used to pay ambulance drivers to park outside Madison Square Garden on the theory that the promise of violence brought in the crowds.

Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe used the ridicule argument when he stated: "We've got to stamp out this sort of thing, or people are going to keep on buying tickets."

The closest the two differing views at the NHL board of governors table ever got to an airing happened in 1992. A new chair was in place, Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall, with the arrival of a new commissioner, Gary Bettman, was still several months off. It seemed like a good time to discuss changing the violent culture of the game.

Harry Sinden, then-general manager of the "Big, Bad" Boston Bruins somewhat surprisingly suggested a complete ban on fighting. He argued the only way expansion was possible to untried U.S. markets and, in particular, to Europe, was if they cleaned up the "distasteful" side of hockey.

"I'll always love hard-hitting, physical hockey," Sinden said. "But I hate goons and I hate goon tactics."

The board responded by asking that two position papers be prepared for discussion, one "pro" fighting, the other "con."

The "con" side argued it would be in the league's financial interest to get rid of the thuggery. It was pointed out that huge potential sponsors (IBM was one) were shying away from hockey over this issue. European hockey thrives, they said, and doesn't allow fighting.

The "pro" side mostly ridiculed, particularly in its condemnation of European hockey.

Even so, at the next meeting of the board of governors, the "con" side believed it had made some progress. Proposals were tabled that would establish game misconducts for fighting, with an extra game added if the fight took place in the last 10 minutes of a game. They suggested linesmen be allowed to call penalties once play had stopped. They called for a bumping up of multiple penalties, such as cross-checking, to five minutes from two minutes. Penalties for infractions such as hooking and holding, they said, should run their full time allotment rather than end once the team with the advantage has scored.

Of course, nothing ever came of this. The hooking and holding, in fact, took such a strong hold on the game that star various players – Lemieux among them – spoke out about the state of the game and fans grew so increasingly disenchanted that, following the 2004-05 lockout, significant rule changes were made to open the game up again.

In 2010-11, another giant step is required to rid the league of headshots and, with luck, such "travesty" as occurred last Friday.

To simply ridicule and dismiss those who argue such change is necessary – as Hockey Night in Canada analyst Mike Milbury so loves to do on taking hits to the head out of the game – is to invite upon hockey a blow that could concuss the game itself. Minor hockey enrolment is down. By 2016, The Hockey News predicts, at least 30,000 fewer children will be playing the game.

That analysis was made before the current outcry against headshots. The undeniable medical evidence that concussions are life-long and life-threatening have parents everywhere rethinking their child's involvement in a game where, no matter what the lesser leagues do to protect heads, the players themselves continue to copy the open-season style of the NHL.

The league's refusal to act threatens future players and fans – surely it can see this.

However, it has ignored good advice before, such as the 1992 discussion paper against fighting that was prepared by Harry Sinden.

Oh, yes, and by his assistant, Mike Milbury.

But we won't accuse Milbury of hypocrisy.

That word has already been used against Mario Lemieux.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[Author]

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