Sad news greeted us this morning as Alexander Galimov, the lone player who initially survived the crash that claimed the lives of the entire Lokomotiv team and coaching staff died.
Galimov had burns to roughly 90 per cent of his of his body. The initial reports when Galimov was admitted to hospital were that his burns were “incompatible with life.” The Lokomotiv hockey team has ceased operations for the season, which was the right decision. Thoughts and prayers to the families and friends of Galimov.
“Realistically, if you don’t want to get hit and you don’t want to get hurt, then don’t play. If you go out on the ice, you’re going to get hit. If you want to play shinny, then go play shinny. It’s not the same. And that’s not trying to be cavalier or trying to be light about the subject, because nobody wants anybody to get hurt. But the game isn’t supposed to be safe. It’s supposed to be an intense, emotional game.”
— Shane Doan
Thank you.
That was one of the most respected players in the game speaking honestly about what hockey is and how most players really feel about it.
Hockey doesn’t tickle and that’s part of the attraction for both fans and players alike. And while much ink has been spilled by the “nerf-the-world” crowd about suspensions being the be-all and end-all, the reality is hockey is a dangerous sport played by tough, elite-level athletes on a 1/8th inch blade of steel that has inherent in it the element of violence and danger.
The sport skates on a very thin line and is always on the verge of ripping into chaos. There are internal checks and balances that keep the game at an acceptable level of physicality as hockey wavers between beauty and brutality.
And here’s a little secret: it’s not just most fans who like it, it’s also the players.
This not to say it’s wrong to look at ways of ensuring the safety of the athletes. But the question is at what point in the noble quest of protection does the game no longer resemble what the players want to play or the fans want to watch?
There’s a very specific element of the game that many continually site as its most attractive element yet refuse to admit that it’s that very thing which renders the game more dangerous than ever.
Speed.
And the genie is out of the bottle.
The league, the fans, the players all love how fast this game moves. When I was young watching hockey in the 1970s I didn’t think the game could ever move more quickly but now going back and watching the sport from that era, it’s turtle races.
Players race at speeds once thought near impossible but the unforeseen consequence of removing obstruction is players no longer rub each other out when they hit; they collide like billiard balls. It’s not a contact sport; rather, it’s a collision sport now.
Charging no longer exists since each shift consists of 45 seconds of players in continual motion, all moving their feet and racing towards targets that have no protection in front of them. No picks, no hooks, no holds.
How you can call a charge now is beyond me. Show me a player coasting anymore, either into a zone or into a check. Doesn’t happen.
Where has that taken the sport?
Look, at a certain point everything is too fast to be safe. I think we’re at that point now with hockey.
With players moving at 35 km/h on a 200×85-foot surface surrounded by boards, this game is now at the point where safety is impossible to ensure.
Personally, I feel that hockey is a concussion sport.
Yes, that may sound like a horrible thing to say but if we’re honest with ourselves I think we have to admit that’s what hockey is. As long as there is hitting allowed at high speeds, there will always be concussions. Period.
As for the topic de jour, I don’t buy the zero-tolerance argument for headshots since there is a huge distinction to be made between a headshot and incidental head contact, which will always be part of the game. Even in non-contact hockey, like the women’s game, the concussion rate is still high because without checking players tend to skate more with their heads down which leads to accidental and dangerous contact to the head.
I think the smartest thing you can teach a kid about playing contact hockey is how to be prepared to take a hit and how to protect yourself. Hey, what Mike Richards did to Patrick Kaleta in Round 2 of the playoffs last year? Beautiful.
I have a 15-month-old son, and if he decides to ever play hockey I’m going to teach him this: expect to be hit every time you get out on the ice and prepare yourself for it. If you don’t get hit, it’s a bonus but always play as if you’re going to get pounded and position your body accordingly.
In short, take responsibility for your own protection out there. Do not rely on referees or supplemental discipline.
Here’s my analogy. You’re sitting on a park bench one sunny afternoon and decide to walk over to the water fountain to get a drink but leave your wallet on the bench. Upon returning you discover your wallet is gone, stolen. Now, it’s wrong that it got stolen, that shouldn’t happen and there are plenty of laws in place to make sure that theft is dealt with and punished. But at the same time I think that as a society we have the right to look at you and say, “Well, what did you expect to happen?”
The CHL has gone to the Dogs.
The Canadian Hockey League last week released their preseason rankings and to nobody’s surprise the defending champion Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL top the list followed by the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs. Saint John has sixteen returning players and even though they lose Mike Kirkpatrick, the Dogs should still be able to fill the net with the likes of Jonathan Huberdeau (FLA), Tomas Jurco (DET), Zack Phillips (MIN), Stanislav Galiev (WAS). The backend has taken a little hit with the loss of Eric Gelinas (NJ) and Simon Despres (PIT) but Nathan Beaulieu (MTL) will anchor what is still considered a strong group on the blueline.
As for Niagara they will be led by star centre Ryan Strome (NYI), who should also compete for the scoring title in the OHL this year. He may well have won it as an 18-year-old last season were it not for a concussion late in the season suffered at the hands of Owen Sound’s Joey Hishon (COL). Boston first-rounder Dougie Hamilton anchors the blueline and the team will once again enjoy the labour of the OHL’s best goaler Mark Visentin.
The rest of the top 10 looks like this:
3. Portland Winter Hawks – even though Nino Niederreiter (NYI) and Ryan Johansen (CBJ) will most likely play in the NHL this season, there is still plenty of firepower on this team now led by Sven Baertschi (CGY), Ty Rattie (STL) and Joe Morrow (PIT). Still, I have a difficult time seeing them being anywhere close to the regular season powerhouse they were last year. To me the Edmonton Oil Kings are a team to watch in the West.
4. Shawinigan Cataractes – Host team for the 2012 Memorial Cup, Shawinigan will most definitely pull out all the stops to ice an outstanding team. Many have already speculated a trade for either Sean Couturier (PHI) or Ondrej Palat (TB) of Drummondville could be a possibility. I think Couturier could be but I can’t see Palat coming back to the Q for his overage year. Regardless if it’s one of those two look for Shawinigan to be trade-frisky all season. They still need some work on the blueline. The Cataractes are led up from by the two Michaels: Bournival (COL) and Chaput (PHI).
5. Plymouth Whalers – What we’re watching here with the Whalers should be a solid two-year run at the top of the OHL and should be legit contenders for the Memorial Cup both this and next season. They added J.T. Miller (NYR) to complement a roster that boasts Stefan Noesen (OTT), Rickard Rakell (ANA) and one of the best goaltending tandems in the CHL Scott Wedgewood and Matt Mahalak.
6. Quebec Remparts – Have an offence highlighted by early candidate to go first overall in next year’s draft Mikhail Grigorenko.
7. Kelowna Rockets – It’ll be the Shane McColgan (NYR) show after the Rockets lost key players to the next level of hockey, most notable Tyson Barrie who had anchored their blueline. They’ll need big years from Zach Franko, Colton Sissons and returning netminder Adam Brown.
8. Sarnia Sting – Some say a stacked team. Many are predicting the Sting to come out of the OHL with two players looking like sure-fire top 10 and maybe even top 5 picks in Alexander Galchenyuk and Nail Yakupov. An injury to Connor Murphy hurts and there are questions about netminder Brandon Maxwell’s consistency.
9. Red Deer Rebels – If, if, if Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (EDM) returns to the Rebels this team will be a lot of fun to watch and a legit contender to come out of the ‘Dub. But even if he doesn’t there’s still plenty to be excited about with the likes of Alex Petrovic (FLA), Justin Weller (PHX), Byron Froese (CHI), Johan Persson (NYI) and Adam Kambeitz (PHX).
10. Victoriaville Tigers – The Tigers will be led by netminder David Honzik who the Vancouver Canucks selected in the third round of last year’s draft and Phillip Danault, a Chicago first rounder up front.
This day in hockey history
1932: Marcel Bonin born in Montreal, Quebec. Bonin played from ’52 – ’62 with Detroit, Boston and Montreal and was one of the earliest believers in the benefits of weight lifting. Dude was jacked. Oh, and a little insane. In the offseason he would, no joke, wrestle bears and, mainly to get a rise out of his friends, eat glass. In 1959 he scored 10 goals in 11 games using Maurice Richard’s gloves. I should do a blog one day about players using teammates equipment to much success. Anyone else remember Bob Bourne scoring a hat trick with the Islanders using Stefan Persson’s stick? And to boot, Bourne scored an even-strength, power play and shorthanded goal using the Swede’s twig.
1940: The NHL Board of Governors do away with the rule that players were only allowed to wear numbers 1 through 19. To this day each of those numbers has been retired by at least one team, the lone exception being number 13.
1941: The NHL alters its rules to allow for both “minor” and “major” penalty shots. A minor penalty shot resulted in a player having a shot on net from 28 feet away. The major penalty shot was called when a player on a breakaway with only the goaler to beat gets hauled down. The subsequent penalty shot was obviously what we now see in the NHL.
1979: The Hockey Hall of Fame inducts Bobby Orr, Harry Howell, Henri Richard and Gordon Jukes in the Builders category.
1983: The New York Rangers sign former 50-goal scorer Pierre Larouche.
1985: Pittsburgh trades Marty McSorley and Tim Hrynewich to Edmonton for Gilles Meloche. Meloche didn’t play a single game for the Oilers before getting shipped to the Pens. Personally, I think Meloche was one of the best goalies I ever saw but was always stuck on REALLY bad teams (Seals, Barons, North Stars and this ’85 Pens squad). I swear if he had played on the Islanders, Habs, Bruins or Flyers in that era we’d talk about him as being one of the best of all time.
1994: Lionel Conacher, Harry Watson and Brian O’Neill announced as newest members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Conacher was perhaps the greatest athlete Canada has ever produced excelling in football (won the Grey Cup with the Argos in 1921), lacrosse, baseball and was also for a time a Canadian boxing champion who fought Jack Dempsey in a three-rounder to raise money for charity. “The Big Train” was active right up until his death. Literally. During a charity baseball game on Parliament Hill Conacher died running to first base after a hit, suffering a heart attack.