Hockey is a dangerous game and players are becoming more and more aware of the impact that playing recklessly can have on not only other players, but themselves as well.
It’s something that we see a lot in football: A player leads with their helmet and just as much impact comes back on them after a hit and they end up hurt. Well, it happens in hockey too, and it happened to Andrew Shaw when he attempted to hit Greg Pateryn last night (WATCH HERE). After Shaw went down on the play Pateryn immediately tried to retaliate, but Shaw had already knocked himself unconcious.
Pateryn wasn’t injured on the play, but Shaw was and Pateryn blamed Shaw’s playing style for why this will happen to him more than other players.
While Pateryn was probably annoyed with Shaw in the moment, this type of discussion is necessary for players to understand how their style of play can hurt themselves as well. As concussions become a bigger talking point in the NHL, protecting yourself as a player should be priority number one.
The league is doing their best to discredit any link between concussions and hockey, so players need to protect themselves.
