The NHL was rocked when Bruins defenceman Zendo Chara sent Max Pacioretty into the glass between the benches on Tuesday night, leaving him unconscious. Pacioretty was left with broken vertebra and severe concussion. This needs to be a wake up call for the NHL to change the ruling.
In Via Rails opinion "the NHL's quick and ineffective ruling on the Pacioretty/Chara incident of last Tuesday is totally unacceptable as it does nothing to try to reverce the alarming trend of vicious hits that have sidelinded some of the games greatest talents."
Have a read of the letter sent by Via Rail to the NHL on Friday, threatning to pull their sponsorship. And they are not the first, on Wednesday Air Canada's Cheif Executive also had a letter sent to the NHL threatening to pull their sponsorship, and called on the NHL to "protect both the players and the integrity of the game" before "a fatality" occurs.
Air Canada has gone quiet in the meanwhile (after the league lashed out on them), but this is only closing the stable door after the horse has botled.
The sposors are not alone in their critisism. Even in political cirles there has been a lot of talk, concerning the level of violence and the number of concussions in the game.
Many are also concerned about the example being set to young hockey players. An article by Ken Dryden (former Canadiens goaltender and current Canadian politician) in Saturdays Globe and Mail highlights the consequences of this problem. Dryden gives examples of several former NHL and NFL players, who were found in post-morten autopsies to have suffered from Chronic-Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a condition with demetia like symptoms caused by frequent consussions and trauma to the head. Dryen feels that in this day and age, it's unacceptable for this problem to be ignored and he feels the NHL should address the spate of head injuries.
An opportunity for this might come next week when the NHL General Managers come together for a meeting in Florida. Here's hoping...