The issue of body checking in hockey has come into sharp focus with the sight of its star player Sidney Crosby watching the playoffs from the sidelines.
The 23-year-old superstar from Cole Harbour, N.S. has been off the ice since suffering a concussion in January. If there鈥檚 an up-side to him being out for the season, it鈥檚 the realization that concussions are serious brain injuries and should be treated as such, says Syd Johnson, a bio-ethicist with Fran莽oise Baylis鈥檚 research team at AV俱乐部, Novel Tech Ethics.
鈥淯ntil now, there鈥檚 been pressure to brush off these kind of injuries and to send them out to play,鈥� she says.
A skill that can be taught
Nevertheless, removing body checking from hockey isn鈥檛 the answer, says Daniel Bartek, 22, who plays varsity hockey with the Dal Tigers. From the Czech Republic, Mr. Bartek grew up playing full contact hockey, although the emphasis was on swift skating and stick handling. Body checking wasn鈥檛 a skill that he was taught.
He wishes it was. Once he moved to North America to play major junior A hockey鈥攆irst in Washington, then in Brandon, Manitoba鈥攈e found the play to be more physical and the contact more frequent.
He says body checking is a skill that can be learned鈥攈ow to take a hit and how to apply one. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e smart, if you know the basics, then you can position your body to absorb the hit. The injuries come when you鈥檙e not prepared.鈥�
The Dal Tigers coach agrees that banning body checking from hockey 鈥渢akes too much away ... it鈥檚 part of the physical game of hockey,鈥� says Pete Belliveau, reached while on the road in Maine while on a recruiting trip.
Coach Belliveau agrees teaching body checking is crucial, so players will realize that hits to the head should never be tolerated. 鈥淩eferees should be vigilant and apply strict penalties when the rule is violated.鈥�
Dr. Kevin Gordon, a professor of pediatric neurology at AV俱乐部, says perhaps players聽 (and their parents) should be given a choice: to play contact hockey鈥攁nd to accept the risks that may incur鈥攐r to play non-contact hockey.
鈥淚 believe we have to be more transparent with parents, namely that contact leagues do have a higher injury rate for minor and major injury鈥攊s this a risk that they wish to expose their children to?鈥� asks Dr. Gordon, who brought attention to the phenomenon of 鈥渓ocker boxing鈥� among young hockey and lacrosse players a few years ago.聽 聽
A separate stream?
鈥淎 separate stream of competitive hockey without 鈥榖ody contact鈥� could be considered where there are enough players to support it.鈥�
Ultimately, while he supports Dr. Johnson鈥檚 thesis, he says injury rates among young athletes are often due to fighting and not necessarily body checking. He notes there are two recorded cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in hockey鈥擱eggie Flemming and Bob Probert鈥攂oth of whom spent much of their careers in the penalty box for fighting.聽
SEE RELATED STORY: Ban body checking in youth hockey: Dal researcher