What are you thoughts about headshots?

[canucksrule10]

I can live with this. My problem with the "head shot" debate is what do you do when someone's shoulder comes up and hits an opponent while finishing a check. No intent. It's just a hockey play that happens a lot more over the course of a game than the anti-head shot group wants to admit.

A hit like Willie Mitchell on Toews, or Ovechkin on Jagr, is a good, clean hit. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. The hits that Scotty Stevens threw were good, clean hockey hits - the type of hits that change the complexion of a game, or in the case of Stevens in the 1995 Stanley Cup final on Slava Kozlov, the complexion of a series.

I don't want to see hits like that out of the game. I don't want to see players get hurt, but at the same time, injuries do happen.

I still think the ideal solution is to call the hits to the head that are a deliberate attempt to injure. If there's an attempt to injure, then call it. If it's a shoulder on a finished check, don't call it. If it's a charge or an elbow, call it. The problem is it puts even more discretion in the hands of the refs.

I think we also need to reaffirm protective hockey measures at hockey camps and in minor hockey. We need to stress to kids that with the speed of the game, and the importance of the physical game, they can't cut across the blue-line, watch their pass or have their head down. (Note: David Booth did all three when he was levelled by Mike Richards).