It's not often I disagree with Don Cherry.....

A little research reminds me that for over 30  years Don Cherry has held court on CBC 's coaches corner. Mr. Cherry has been a voice into my hockey experience for over half my life (although in recent years I have much preferred going to Bulls' games on Saturday nights!)  In general, I have to say that in most instances I resonate with Don's views. His politics, support for our troops, no touch icing, support for the Canadian brand of hockey and also his faith. There is no prouder Canadian. Yes, most of what Mr. Cherry expounds I usually agree with and have great admiration for. Besides, he is colourful and fun and an entertainer in an industry that can be somewhat cliche and understated. 

In general I think Mr. Cherry has been pretty consistent in support of what I believe is the main issue here…how to improve player safety. He has always been a proponent of “no touch” icing. He has said that the league should “throw the book” at guys that make blind side head shots to their fellow players. Some of Mr Cherry’s most recent comments led to some blurring and confusion of several issues but I have to think that player safety is still at the core of all of his positions.

I feel that the debate (with Mr Cherry at the center) a few weeks ago had a positive side. In my opinion, it gave the fans, management, ownership, the media, leagues, and the players a reminder to continue to challenge ourselves to keep players safe while working to make hockey the fastest, most exciting, most crowd pleasing spectator sport we can. It is also a reminder to all concerned that these are actual people playing this game, all with families, friends, and future lives after hockey. 

A few weeks have gone by since this all blew up. Still thought I'd use this blog to share my personal views on this discussion. I feel discussions on this topic usually blend a range of hockey issues like respect for opponents, fighting in hockey, player size and speed, equipment, gameplay rules like the trapezoid, player's on ice awareness (does he have his head down?), and yes, hits to the head. Many are debating topics like fighting, hitting, equipment, suspensions etc. To me it’s a complicated topic and just one thing won’t solve it. 

Full disclosure here. I am owner in the OHL and a member of the league's Board of Governors. I am a parent of a current OHL player. I am a friend of parents of many other OHL and NCAA bound players too. I am a hockey fan ( and a Leaf fan). I stand and cheer when there is a good old fashioned hockey fight that occurs when "in game" emotions boil over. I stand and cheer when a player understands the art of using his body to separate an opposing player from the puck. When I play I would say that "contact" is still important in my game even though I only play "non contact" hockey. As I said, full disclosure!

My first observation is that the head protection and concussion topic is evolving and is, for our game, the most relevant topic we can discuss. This is not really about fighting, the code, taking hitting out of hockey. It is about new knowledge and recognition of things that were not really known in the days that Mr Cherry played hockey his way. Sadly it has taken too long to get here and probably only reached the tipping point because of the high profile injuries to Sidney Crosby and the very tragic loss this past summer of some current and former professional players with questions surrounding their playing style and raising any possible links between fighting, concussions, injuries, etc.

I know that for the OHL, almost the entire annual summer meeting was focused around what we could do to make improvements for player safety. Also, in a related topic, we had long presentations and discussions on how our league could provide even better information, education, and process for our teams and players regarding the prevention of, measurement of and evaluation of concussions. This included outlining a process for the rehabilitation and “return to play” of players that have been concussed. All I can say is that we received tremendous input from very qualified medical people as we reviewed how we, as a league, would take leadership. And to me it seems a very logical and responsible place for our league to focus and challenge each other.

 One of my thoughts as I write this blog is that there is no one magic bullet that will solve this issue. Our game cannot be completely free of head injury. Any family signing up for or trying out for competitive hockey at the higher levels must understand and be prepared for the risks that the speed and contact of hockey brings. It would be no different than signing up knowing the risks of go-karting, equestrian activities, high diving, or sky diving. Risks are part of hockey. Head injuries will be part of hockey’s future and have always been despite what the traditionalist might say. I think the biggest change is that we just have much more data and knowledge now.

I know that our league is not content to leave the situation as it has been even though we know there are risks. We know we can challenge ourselves to make our playing environment safer. But to make it safer we will have to have open and healthy understanding by the entire hockey community. 

I think it's foolish when "extremists" suggest that encouraging a safer environment for our kids if they do fight means we want to ban fighting. I think it's foolish when "extremists" suggest that increasing the suspensions for reckless hits or  headshots means a league like ours wants to erase body contact. These extreme views hurt our game because they confuse the key issues and get everyone naturally lined up against each other. That’s just leads to no one wanting to do anything. Isn’t the issue about player safety?

I’m thankful that our league, though admittedly not perfect, wants to lead rather than follow. I’m impressed that we are erring on the side of higher sanctions for reckless hits and headshots. We’ll get it wrong sometimes for sure but I think we’ll much more often get it right. I think the education tools we are providing our OHL community are impressive. Showing these suspendable actions with full transparency on our website provides strong leadership and will help educate everyone involved. 

The OHL is stepping up to lead. Hockey Canada and minor hockey seems determined to adjust rules and sanctions to encourage safer play without removing body contact. Brendan Shanahan appears to be bringing fresh perspective to the NHL and does so with the credibility of a rugged, aggressive former player that seems to want the best from his game. I’m hopeful that experienced hockey people like Don Cherry, who has such influence in our game and so many great things to say, will continue to clarify his message...play hard, make clean legal and respectful hits, if you’re going to fight do it in toe to toe fights that come from pure emotion and passion. Let’s do whatever we can to protect our players from unnecessary and avoidable head injuries wherever we can. 

And on a completely separate note...I want to give a shout out to the Loyalist Pioneers (alumni group of retired Loyalist College teachers, administrators, employees) who I had a chance to get together with to talk some "Bulls hockey", the business of the OHL, and the importance of education to the new OHL. I had a great time meeting a whole bunch of new people in the community. Thanks for a great visit! 

Until the next time....

Gord