Whether it’s in the NHL or a junior hockey game, fans and players alike love to see one player rip down the ice and smash into another with a clean hit.
Physicality makes hockey what it is – especially for Canadians.
But physical play that turns life threatening is a serious problem.
That was the case in a recent Ontario Hockey League game, when 16-year-old Kitchener Rangers defenceman Ben Fanelli was devastated by Erie Otters forward Michael Liambas behind the net.
As Fanelli played the puck behind his own net, Liambas barreled down the ice at full speed to finish his check and slammed Fanelli into the boards head first.
Fanelli lay bloody and motionless on the ice and was rushed to hospital with a fractured skull and broken orbital bone.
After an agonizing seven days in the intensive care unit, Fanelli – a gifted prospect – still remembers nothing about the hit that almost killed him.
In that time, Liambas was handed a season-long suspension.
After recognizing Fanelli's injury, the referees gave Liambas a match penalty. And upon revisiting the incident OHL commissioner David Branch said Liambas delivered the hit without regard for Fanelli’s safety.
But more important than the suspension, the hit calls into question the culture of the game Canadians love – at least at the junior level.
Hockey can’t be injury free. But it seems that the message coaches send players is that they need to be as physical as possible.
Modern hockey players receive so much training, both on the ice and in the weight room, that they are faster and stronger than ever – making hits more ferocious than ever.
One school of thought is that the game needs to revisit the rules governing hitting. In pre-lockout hockey, players were allowed to slow down forwards, like Liambas, with a little interference to protect their defencemen from high-speed hits.
But that slowed down the game.
Hockey should not revert back to a clutch-and-grab era, but the hockey community should not push players so much to be physical. Because the message now reads “go as fast and hard as you can, because no one can slow you up.”
Other hockey leagues are far less focused on physicality, but still produce a good on-ice product.
The NCAA – where many junior players seek scholarships – enforces harsh penalties for fighting. Still, players adapt even though they can fight in junior.
European professional leagues too focus on skill and speed, and less on checking and hard-nosed play. This effectively eliminates the role of enforcers or pests.
By emphasizing speed and skill, while discouraging fighting as players develop in junior, hockey won’t be as dominated by physicality at all levels. The fact is that hockey players adapt so well and will pick up this physical style of play if they’re encouraged to.
Most old-time hockey players advocate this rough, North American style of hockey, as well as many major junior players.
CBC's Mike Milbury suggests that if players don’t like physicality, they shouldn’t play hockey.
Spencer Metcalfe, a major junior player for the Halifax Mooseheads, says players know full well that junior hockey is rough and that they take the risk of injury when they choose to pursue a higher level of hockey.
Others suggest hockey needs to change.
TSN’s Bob McKenzie says that young players should not be encouraged to play intense physical hockey. “We need a few speed bumps to protect the assets in this game, and those assets are the players who play it,” he adds.
Even Bob Clarke, a former NHLer and notorious bruiser, says he wouldn’t want to play now because it’s too dangerous.
In most cases, the Liambas hit on Fanelli would not result in an injury. Liambas himself has said that he made that hit thousands of times. Had Fanelli’s injury not been so severe, no one would be talking about this.
But that’s not the case.
Fanelli will lose his rookie season in the OHL, his chance at Team Canada under-17, a semester of high school, and almost his life.
But the underlying issue beyond all the tragedy is that there is a problem with the way hockey is played. It’s one thing to allow professional players, paid millions annually, to hit each other as hard as they can – it’s their job, and they love it.
But this type of mentality shouldn’t be modeled in junior hockey, because these kids are not professionals.
And before they know it, a split second could ruin their life.