Two Vicious Head-Slashing Penalties in The Last 2 Weeks is Yet Another Reason Junior Hockey Should Never Ban Fighting

For being fans of the self-proclaimed toughest sport in the world, hockey fans sure do love calling for prison time when someone takes things a little bit too far. Everyone loooooooves the idea of a cheap shot taking goon of a hockey player. We love when Seann William Scott plays one in a movie. We love when Happy Gilmore takes his skate off and tries to stab somebody with it. We love when a Hanson Brother breaks his stick over an opponent's face.

But when a real life 18-year old OHL player blind-side whacks an unsuspecting victim in the side of the head with the heel of his stick blade, and he bleeds out right there on the ice, suddenly it's "assault". Suddenly it's "prison time". Suddenly there's "no place for that in hockey".

Which... yeah that's definitely true. That's fair. Movies are different than real life. You can't defend a head slashing. I can maybe kinda see how Luke Draguscia, the player who did the head slashing, could have gotten himself worked up to that point. Next to taking a skate blade to the neck, hitting a player from behind as he's standing a few feet away from the boards is probably the most dangerous play in hockey. It's a great way to end someone's career. 

To go crumbling into the boards like that, neck first, with your back at that awkward angle, hockey players have been paralyzed that way. I don't want to post the video, but you can look up Travis Roy of Boston University. He wasn't even the victim of a boarding. But 11 seconds into his college hockey career, he just happened to fall into the boards at that awkward angle. He cracked two vertebrae in his spine, and it left him a quadriplegic. It was a horrible tragedy. And he's not the only player who's suffered an injury like that. 

But on that play the other night… that's just not really what happened. The hit Luke Dragusica was retaliating to… he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He kinda got pushed into Brady Balseg's path by another player at the last second. Not that Brady tried to hold up much. He did end up hitting from behind as he was standing in that danger zone just a few feet away from the wall. 

The ref maybe could have called a penalty there. But it wasn't an egregious no call. Luke Dragusica wasn't entirely square with the boards. He wasn't hit THAT hard. He had time to turn his body as he fell. I guess as a hockey player, if someone hits you from behind when you're in that position, since you can't necessarily see exactly how it happened, I can see how Luke might have thought he was the victim of a dirty hit. Which caused him to see red and whack the guy who hit him across the jaw.

The problem is, again, he just wasn't hit that hard. He was perfectly fine. What you should do in that situation, if you really feel like you've been wronged, is square up and fight the guy man-to-man. That's how hockey is supposed to work. If you're a real pussy (or really really really good), you can send out an enforcer to do your dirty work for you. Coaches should be teaching that. If you ever feel the urge to pop off and do something stupid, just drop the gloves instead. But never use your stick as a weapon. That's like, the #1 most cowardly thing a hockey player can do. It's such a wildly egregious cheap shop. And you can see exactly where ol' Luke stops seeing red, and realizes he just how badly he fucked up. It's right after he cross checks Brady Blaseg's in the back as he's bleeding out on the ice. Right here.

"Oh fuck… I'm not playing hockey again for a LONG TIME am I…"

That's correct, Luke. The OHL has since suspended him indefinitely. And strangely enough, this is the second time in the last two weeks an OHL player has been suspended for using his stick as a weapon. Jacob Xu of the Kitchener Rangers was suspended 4 games for this little number.

Kids these days, man. Apparently nobody in the OHL wants to fight like men anymore. They're resorted weaponry. That's not the old time hockey I know. Or maybe it is. Maybe old time hockey really was just like the movie Slap Shot, and before we had cameras to catch every little thing, enforcers were slashing faces behind the play every time the refs turned their backs. I don't know. I wasn't there. But we gotta start settling beefs with our fists again, boys. Apparently there's a push by the "Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner" to get fighting banned across ALL junior leagues in Canada. 

TSN – In a sweeping set of recommendations aimed at overhauling the culture of hockey, a team of researchers commissioned by the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) is urging Hockey Canada to push for a ban on fighting across all junior leagues and implement a national sanctions registry to inform the public about people who have been banned or suspended for serious maltreatment.

The recommendations were included in a 234-page sport environment assessment report published by the OSIC on May 8. It has not been publicly reported on before now.

“Hockey Canada should invite partnership with national governing bodies from other countries and other stakeholders, to work toward a concerted effort to campaign and influence the CHL and other leagues to eliminate fighting…,” the report said. “The aim would be to ensure the celebration of violence is not a deterrent for grassroots enrollment, and to protect the safety and well-being of young athletes.”

Fighting has already banned in the Quebec Major Junior league. Now they're pushing for it in the OHL and the WHL. I think that's a terrible move. If players aren't allowed to settle their scores, and get their anger out via a good ol' fashioned fist fight… the type of fight that lasts 20 seconds and nobody ever gets seriously hurt… then that anger is just going to build. And eventually, it's all going to come out in the form of a head slash. Or a dirty hit against the boards. Or worse. And if players never have to worry about having to fight their opponent's toughest player after laying a dirty hit… they're just gonna be more likely to make one. Fighting isn't the problem. If anything, it's a solution.