Violent head shots put spotlight on junior hockey

New York Islanders' Andy Sutton, left, smashes Pittsburgh Penguins' Pascal Dupuis, right into the boards in the third period. (Jan. 19, 2010) Credit: AP
The issue of hits to the head still is a big NHL problem, but two recent incidents in Canada's major junior leagues focused the spotlight on the younger players.
On Jan. 14, Zach Kassian of the Ontario League's Windsor Spitfires leveled Barrie Colts forward Matt Kennedy at center ice as Kennedy looked up for an airborne puck. Kennedy needed staples in the back of his head and is considering retirement after suffering his fifth known concussion. Kassian, the 13th overall pick by the Sabres in last June's draft, got a 20-game suspension Thursday.
Three days after that incident, Patrice Cormier of the Quebec League's Rouyn-Noranda Huskies caught Quebec Remparts defenseman Mikael Tam with an elbow to the face; the video of the incident shows Tam unconscious and convulsing on the ice. Cormier, a 2008 third-round draft pick of the Devils and captain of Canada's World Junior team, will have his suspension announced Monday. It could be a ban for the remainder of the league's season.
The strangely unifying factor in the hits - other than the fact that each player had just come off his bench and made a beeline for his opponent, neither of whom had the puck in his possession - is that Kassian and Cormier were the bigger prospects. Kennedy was a fifth-round pick of the Hurricanes and Tam was not drafted last year; it's far more likely that the two offenders will be in the NHL in a few years.
OHL commissioner David Branch, who in November suspended Erie's Michael Liambas for the remainder of the season for a crushing hit, has tried to stress to his league's players, who range in age from 15 to 20, that hitting is part of the game, but it seems as though respect is on the wane.
"Hockey is a tough game and that's an element we never want to lose," Branch said. "The one element in this league we've been really stressing is the need to ensure the level of respect. We perceive this incident was most concerning [because of] a lack of respect for the opponent."
It's troubling that these latest incidents occurred in the junior leagues, in which young men should be displaying their hockey skills rather than their ability to steamroll an unsuspecting opponent.
Perhaps more troubling is the reaction of Lou Lamoriello, the Devils' president. The day after Cormier's hit - which, if seen on the upsetting video, is clearly an elbow to the head of an unsuspecting opponent, one of the worst kinds of head shots - Lamoriello was asked about his prospect's possible suspension.
"I'm not the judge or jury, but in my opinion, no," Lamoriello said.
This is a small example of the problems faced by commissioners such as Branch and Colin Campbell, the NHL's vice president of operations and arbiter of suspensions in the NHL. Even a clearly punishable hit is defended by coaches and executives when everyone - players, executives, leagues - should be able to agree that these types of hits should be excised from all levels of the sport.
There should be more words of contrition like the ones from Islanders defenseman Andy Sutton, who drove the Penguins' Pascal Dupuis face-first into the boards Tuesday, earning a two-game suspension from Campbell.
"Obviously, it wasn't clean," Sutton said of the hit that injured his friend. He was right, and that seems to be the first step toward cleaning up these illegal hits.
Kassian and Cormier will learn a bit younger that they have no place in the game.
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