Yahoo’s Puck Daddy blog brings us a story about a Canadian doctor who feels the game is a little bit too physical, and the doctor is pointing at one infamous hit as proof of that.
Dr. Pierre Harvey, a physician from Riviere-du-Loup, Que., recently scorned “the complacency of the NHL in regards to violence in hockey.”
OK, fair enough. The hit that stems this line of thinking, though, goes back a couple of years to 2011. Dr. Harvey points to Zdeno Chara‘s hit on Max Pacioretty as proof that the game is too physical and not enough is being done to police the game.
“When I saw that picture I thought, well, he could have been dead,” Harvey said, according to the CP. “He was unconscious on the ice and I thought, well, naturally they will punish this guy.”
However, the NHL didn’t punish Chara for that hit. This upset Harvey, and he would have handled the matter much differently. Chara would have had to serve a 50- to 80-game suspension if Harvey had it his way, the report states.
That type of ban would certainly send some sort of message, that’s for sure. Whether or not it would be the right message while simultaneously making the game safer, well, that is certainly up for debate.
