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| Greatest Hockey Legends |
Former NHL great Bob Clarke weighs in on the concussion issue. I have to agree with some of the things that he says in this article.
“They told the players they had to ‘take the hit,” Clarke said. “The players could no longer get their elbow up or their stick up, they were just supposed to take the hit. At that time, the players could protect each other. They could block, they could hook, they were expected to protect each other.
“But then I think the two-referee system that Bettman brought in, I don’t think it was brought in to help the game. They were brought in to take away the ability of players to get even with each other. That leads to more reckless hitting and stuff. Because if you do that, the league becomes the judge, jury and executioner.’’
Then came more moves, not all of them favorable to players’ health.
“When the lockout was over, the red line came out and the things the players could do — if you saw someone coming you could hold him up, make him break his stride, that was all taken out of the game,’’ Clarke said.
So what you had was something akin to pond hockey abandon, only with boards and glass to mitigate that feeling of open ice. [Phillyburbs.com]
Now-a-days when someone clobbers their fellow competitor head first into the boards, or knees them or hits someone with a questionable hit; if there is a whistle on the play, the refs almost immediately surround the offending players giving the players on the ice little chance to police the act themselves. Then you have to hope that the league will look at the play in question and make the proper decision based on what they feel is an appropriate punishment.
