Every so often I read an article or two about how the violence in hockey is crippling people or that so and so is banned from playing a few games due to an illegal hit. Heck, even kids in Minnesota are hitting people hard enough to permanently injure people.

Do you think that enforcing/creating harsher penalties is going to stop people from getting hurt? Realistically people are strapping things to their feet that allow them to go twice as fast as if they were playing soccer or football then colliding at full speed.  Then to add to that they seem to have rule enforcement that implies if everyone walks away it’s not a problem, but if someone gets hurt there is an issue even if something wasn’t safe. Maybe the real problem isn’t whether a hit is legal or not, but that we are still playing games that  would be considered assault if it happened on the street or in the classroom.

Do you think violence in sports specifically hockey is getting out of hand? Do you think there are any clear solutions like fiscal fines or game suspensions? I’d like to hear your thoughts on this one.