Monday, August 15, 2011

Sid the Kid Still Hurting

    With NHL camps set to open next month, Pittsburgh Penguins GM Ray Shero announced today that their star player, Sidney Crosby, is still experiencing post concussion-like symptoms and may not be ready for the beginning of the season.  Crosby missed half the season last year after receiving multiple blows to the head in early January.  He was in the middle of another MVP type season, scoring 32 goals and dishing out 34 assists in only 41 games.
    Personally, I don't like Sydney Crosby and I am more of an Alexander Ovechkin fan.  However, I don't wish concussions upon anyone especially having witnessed how destructive they have been to players on the Bruins such as Savard and Bergeron. Both Savvy and Bergy have received multiple concussions as it becomes easier to sustain one after you receive your first. Savard hasn't been the same player after being blindsided by Crosby's teammate, Matt Cooke, in early 2010 and who knows what his future in the NHL is.  Let's hope Crosby can come back healthy for the 2011 season and doesn't have to go through what Marc Savard has had to deal with.  Or perhaps he should and make Matt Cooke feel bad and finally realize how dangerous his head-hunting style of play is.
    The NHL has done the right thing and has since stepped up their policies regarding hits to the head.  Unfortunately, there are plenty of goons out there that are willing to make a big hit to make a name for themselves, i.e. Aaron Rome of the Canucks.  These types of hits aren't going to totally stop but hopefully we will see a decrease in these type of hits as well as the overall number of concussions as we learn more about how dangerous concussions can be.  Every team needs a player like Shawn Thornton, featured below, to deter players from taking runs at star players.  You want to play dirty, you will have to face the consequences.  Thornton wishes he had another go around with Cooke, that's for sure.



P.S. - All you hockey fans out there, there will be more hockey posts coming as well as "Where in the World is the Stanley Cup" article following where Lord Stanley has been all summer.



 

No comments:

Post a Comment