As a squirt winning the Northern Il Hockey League MVP Award His first interview it was broadcast as well as the game on cable for us hockey nuts:)

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1200111933470

go to youtube and find games from 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's - the speed difference is obvious, the speed of the game just keeps increasing decade by decade. when the NHL cracked down on obstruction fouls it weeded out all the slow skating players, you can't make an NHL team now if you can't skate, wasn't like that before. and LOL at are the players bigger? you only need to walk by a high school or anywhere else teenagers or young adults hang out and see how big kids are today - definitely a lot bigger than when I was in that age group. players are definitely bigger, stronger and faster now and it will keep increasing.

the equipment factor is real too. go to a sporting goods store which sells top of the line hockey equipment - my shoulder pads were cloth stuffed with some fuzzy cotton shit like old sleeping bags were, and some cheap light plastic that i could bend with my hands.

all the factors in this thread people have mentioned are real and contribute to the problem - how much each contributes to the concussion problem is up for debate.

the constant is that the human brain is just as fragile as it ever was meanwhile everything around it that impacts it in hockey has gotten bigger, faster, harder, stronger.

football has the same problems, the NFL has a new rule against hits where a player leads with his helmet using it as a weapon. the guys who play on the line in the NFL have always had horrible health problems following their careers, the average life expectancy of an NFL lineman is some ridiculously sad number like 54 years.

My favorite line as a kid was the French Connection for the Buffalo Sabres, Gilbert Perrault, Rene Robert and Richard Martin. Richard Martin died suddenly at 59 this summer, had a heart event while driving. His autopsy showed signficant brain damage of the kind caused by concussions. And Martin wasn't a goon, he was a scorer.

Clean hits my ass. At 0.17 seconds he's up in the air going for cross checking. Next hit is a take down on a breakaway. Your kid deserves one good Kevin Stevens shot in a kisser to learn his lesson. And you know its coming sooner or later. :2 cents:

Pronger had it coming, surprised it didnt happen sooner to be honest

This is a main topic of conversation for me and a buddy right now. A few things we've discussed are the obvious. The players today are bigger, faster and stronger and in MUCH better physical condition...ironically. It's great for endurance, not so good when getting hit by another physical specimen. The only thing that hasn't gotten bigger? The size of the playing surface.

The armor they wear compared to yesteryear is obviously a factor too.

The removal of the blue line has also made a difference. As has been said, players can gather a lot more speed whereas they used to have to hold up at the center line.

I don't doubt that there were concussions back in the day that went unnoticed or were even ignored. But there is NO way they had the number that they're having today.


It's gonna take some time, but in 15-20 years, this is what the NHL will look like imo in order of appearance...

-no touch icing
-no fighting
-center line reintroduced
-larger ice surface. Maybe not international size, but it might be.
-20ish teams due to poor markets
-higher scoring games comparable to the Oilers of the 80's due to the inability of the defense to defend on international ice IF more than 20ish teams remain. A lot of the defensemen now are just filling spots. The 3 and 4 defensemen on teams now would be relegated to the 6 or 7 spots with less teams, and less defense spots to fill.

Leave it alone. They get paid $7 million a year to get them and if they can only play for $35 million and more in endorsements... Oh fucking cry me a river?

Bums in Bum Fights get $20 for worse..