That's Gonna Hurt!

My Forearm



The issue of head shots in the NHL has been in the forefront in the league and in the media.  I don't think anybody questions the role of contact play within certain levels of hockey.  Just because I've always played in a non contact league, doesn't mean I don't appreciate the level of physicality required to play in a contact league, of course the NHL epitomizes the level of play where contact is required.  Yet there's no doubting that players are now bigger and stronger and that their equipment is far more advanced than when the league first started out.  There is also a strong credo of masculinity that runs through the males that play in the NHL, visors are becoming somewhat more prevalent, but full face screens or masks are still seen as cowardly.  How many players will have to suffer career ending concussions or sight loss before a firmer stance is taken with regards to hits to the head?

Since I took up hockey as an adult and have always played at a low recreational level, I've never had to deal with the issue of body checking.  This is not to say that I haven't had to deal with various injuries that are a result of playing hockey.  As with any sport, sports related injuries occur, no matter how careful one is, but when you add in the speed and equipment that is worn in hockey, injuries and bruises become almost inevitable.  Somehow the puck seems to find the part of your body that isn't protected.  The above picture is a result of wrist shot by one of my own team mates, when I was crowding the net looking for a rebound.  My defenseman missed the net, but didn't miss me.  The following picture is of the inside of my friend's Julie's thigh, when she was hit by another strong shot from the point.

Julie's Thigh

Bruises are simply part of the game.  My husband doesn't even blink when he sees my injuries, since he played competitive contact hockey for years with equipment of far less quality, in his mind; the bruises are simply part of the game.  I must admit, that there's a certain satisfaction in showing off your injuries, it almost like we get to join into the world of masculine stoicism that purports you should just "walk it off."  I remember playing one game, in which one of our player's lip was split open by a puck deflection, it bled profusely and would eventually require 5 stitches to close it.  He wanted to continue to play and was only prevented by the fact that he wasn't allowed on the ice while he continued to bleed.

John was tripped when on a breakaway in one of our games by a slower player.  John is 6'4" and 240 lbs, that's a lot of mass travelling a long way to hit a very hard ice surface.  After the game we noticed his elbow was bleeding, both of us with our cavalier attitude towards hockey injuries shrugged it off.  I suggested he put a band aid on it, so it wouldn't get blood on his clothes (I didn't even offer to kiss it better).  He wasn't too concerned, saying that he had split his elbow open numerous times as a youth playing hockey and that it was just part of the game.  John played another two games with an open cut with just a band aid between his cut and his elbow pad.  Well lo and behold; he comes home from work one day with his arm completely swollen and red.  We ended up have to go to the hospital to get the infection under control.



John's Elbow



t took six days of intravenous drugs to get the infection under control.  He had to miss weeks of hockey before the cut managed to heal over.  He now wears super heavy duty padded and protected elbow pads.

Hockey by nature is a contact sport, even when you're playing in a non contact league.  Accidents will happen.  I don't think I'd want it any other way, but if you'll excuse me, I have to go put some ice on a bruise.