Safety Rules In Hockey

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In the beginning of safety within the sport of hockey, it is adequate to understand the issues with the backbone of safety, the rules. This general understanding of the rules can be misleading, with each rule being directed to a certain infraction or move, but still, some of these actions can go unnoticed. With the rules such as Rule 41, 43, and 46 (Boarding, checking from behind, and Fighting respectively) they have their own subsections within each set of rules that can be damaging to a player depending on the severity of the incident. For example, if a player is caught fighting, which is officially defined as “When at least one player punches or attempts to punch an opponent repeatedly or when two players wrestle in such a manner as to make it difficult for the …show more content…

However, the way a fight could be conducted in never mentioned, which with specific punches or areas hit on the player, serious problems can occur, such as punches to the head. With the example, it merely gives the bare minimum of safety, and truly simply notes such things as “Fighting Other Than During the Periods of the Game”, or “Continuing or Attempting to Continue a Fight" (National Hockey League 71). Another grave issue with the current rules is with protective equipment. When it comes to the most serious equipment needs, such as helmets, the rules only state that it must be “… approved by the league at all times while participating in a game, either on the playing surface or the players’ or penalty benches” (National Hockey League 13). I have the issue of what the league categorizes the sentence approved by the league. What does this mean, what requirements are “approved, and what specifically can a player look for when using this equipment? These are sets of questions that need to be defined by the league. In this sport of flying pucks, fights and overall rough-and-tough behavior, I tend to ask why the ruling for this is

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