Round 2 of the playoffs kicked off on Monday night, and there has already been some major controversy. The Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the Florida Panthers and during the second period, Sam Bennett made contact with Leafs star goaltender Anthony Stolarz. Stolarz was seen shaking off the brush and tried to continue playing. After another stoppage in play, he made his way to the bench and was seen throwing up.
Concussion spotters were introduced into the NHL in 2015 and it's their role to identify possible signs of concussions in players on the ice and pull them for their safety. Stolarz was pulled by a spotter afterward, which isn't surprising considering the fact that a major symptom of concussions is vomiting.
I watched this game live myself and it made me uneasy to see, especially when news broke that Stolarz was then taken out of the arena on a stretcher and transported to a hospital. I watched this game in the same room as my little brother who went through something similar.
After the game, typical hockey banter took place on social media, but this banter specifically was something that I felt strongly about as fans of both the Panthers and Leafs were arguing whether Bennett's actions were worth a suspension. The NHL Department of Player Safety did not end up having a hearing or disciplining Bennett.
The NHL does not suspend players based on the consequences of their actions, just the actions themselves. Is this something that maybe needs to change? If a player takes a hit and it doesn't seem bad right away but then is throwing up due to it, that hit isn't viewed as anything serious.
A lot of people don't understand that it doesn't take much to cause a concussion, it doesn't always need to be a massive trauma to the head, and sometimes it doesn't look bad. But the consequences of certain points of contact cause a long road of issues and given that the brain is the most important thing in the human body, the NHL should want to protect it the most in its players.
If the NHL's safety board is overlooking things like severe concussion symptoms, then what is the point? It's not truly protecting the safety of players when an action that causes someone to leave the game on a stretcher isn't even considered a two-minute penalty.
In my case with witnessing concussions, I didn't see my brother's concussion happen live. It was recorded and when I saw it, my stomach dropped. One minute, someone I love is playing hockey and the next they've taken a punch to the head they weren't expecting because they didn't instigate anything. I watch the video and his head bangs off the ice.
What followed that action from a minor hockey league game turned into months and months of toil on my own family. My brother couldn't go to school, couldn't play hockey (the thing he loves most), and was taken to different doctors, neurologists, etc.
All hockey leagues have safety protocols put into place -- we sent the league our video of what happened to my brother, and nothing resulted from it. We have now realized these safety protocols are more of an insurance policy and don't actually mean much, but the NHL is the same at the end of the day so other leagues follow along.
The reason why I am sharing this story is because I used to be a rough player myself, and I was even ejected from a game for throwing punches once. I get that hockey is intense -- it's a contact sport, players make bad judgement calls, things get heated in the moment. But what is important is that we maintain safety in the sport and we learn from the past.
As I have matured and watched my brother's resilience and return to hockey (while not at the same level he could play before due to neurologists recommendations), I have become a lot more conscious myself when it comes to watching hockey and player safety in regards to concussions.