Posted on 28th Dec 2011 @ 2:43 PM

  Hockey is a game that is played at a frenetic pace , has bone crushing hits, and features shots travelling over 100 miles per hour. It is Canada's national game. It is a conversation starter and most people have strong allegiances for one team. It is also a game that must have some changes done to it in order to deter its number one nemesis: concussions.

 This problem has reached an almost epidemic in the NHL as on almost a nightly basis players are taken to the " quiet room" after having their bell rung either from a hit, a fight, or a shot. More often than not this player is assessed and put on the injured reserve with concussion like symptoms. Here are my beliefs on this issue as well as a few solutions. 1) First of all I believe that players are assessed much better by training staff following receiving head trauma. I believe that many players from years gone by had concussions instead of just having their bell rung and seeing stars. The players are much better educated on the seriousness of a concussion and rightfully so are not willing to put it  all on the line and continue to " play through the injury. "  2) The elbow pads and shoulder pads  worn by players today cause a lot of the problems but when equipment manufacturers also have huge NHL endorsements , the move to less dangerous suits of upper body armour is slowed.

It is time for these companies to realize that by increasingplayer safety in the upper body area they are increasing the posibility of concussions when other players come in contact with the padding. 3) Go back to wooden sticks. Yes I do realize that composite sticks allow players to shoot harder but aluminum bats are not allowed in Major League Baseball and we all know that a baseball flies farther off of an aluminum bat. By having wooden sticks maybe the goalies could wear less gear and scoring could increase. Also players may not want to block as many shots if their upper body gear's protection is downgraded. 4) It is essential that players show respect to each other. If you see a player is vulnerable for a hit then target the body, not the head. Hit  cleanly and when the player receives a clean hit you do not have to fight the guy who threw the hit. Long time NHL'er Al MacAdam was recently asked how to eliminate head shots and his simple answer was just don't do them ! He went on to state that in his day players simply did not do that.

  Those are my simple ideas on what to do in regards to making the game safer. Please do not put the red line back in . Leave the game alone in regards to speed. Let it remain " the fastest game on earth".

Bill MacKendrick