Blog of Aestheticized Violence.
Cornell University, Classes: One Girl in All the World and American Flow
Friday, March 11, 2011
Violence...On Ice
One of my favorite sites to visit on the internet is a site called hockeyfights.com. This site catalogs, rates, allows for fan voting, and records all the major fights that happen in the NHL and farm leagues of hockey. As a big fan of hockey it’s nice to sit back at the end of a long day of class or schoolwork, and watch two grown men beat the hell out of each other. Watching players make finesse backhands, blast slap shots, or fly around smashing into each other just make my day. But then again there is always high risk involved in such a high-contact sport. Just Wednesday night I checked hockeyfights to watch the daily uploads and instead saw this one video of a single hit (even though the site normally pride itself by only showing fights) by Boston Bruin Captain and the tallest man ever in the NHL, Zdeno Chara.
Normally we watch sports to see violent material. We can all recall a ton of those videos of guys breaking an arm, a big hit in football, or the sickly sight of a compound fracture or some other gruesome injury. But this video is different. This hit on Max Pacioretty was just vicious. Straight violence. No other word for it. The reason it’s so hard to watch is the fact that it’s a life-altering hit on Pacioretty. Hopefully he will recover but a hit like that is a tough one to merely shake off. A malicious blow to the head like that is an absolutely devastating sight and could change the course of his life forever.
There is always a violent risk players take when stepping into the rink and that possibility of violence draws the fans. But no man should ever take a blow like the one Pacioretty took and I believe there needs to be increased safety precautions on that specific area of the ice to prevent a horrific injury like this from ever happening again.
This hit really was horrendous, and I hope Pacioretty recovers quickly. We don't know what was going through Zdeno Chara's mind, but I highly doubt he intended to break Pacioretty's vertebra and give him a severe concussion. He was simply going for the "big check" right in front of the bench. If Pacioretty got right up, this hit would have simply been viewed as a solid check and momentum would probably shift in favor of the Bruins. Rather, because of the unfortunate location of the hit, Pacioretty was severely injured. Chara should get an in-game penalty, like he did, but I do not think any further punishment is necessary. The NHL agrees with me, and they have decided that no further punishment was warranted. Sadly, the Montreal Police Department does not agree with myself or the NHL. A criminal investigation was announced by Montreal police a few days ago. This is absurd. Firstly, it is highly unlikely that Mr. Chara intended to assault Mr. Pacioretty. Secondly, when players step on the rink they understand the risks. Hockey is a particularly dangerous sport, and professional hockey players know they are going to get knocked around night in and night out. I hope when Pacioretty comes to his senses he makes a public announcement that he would not like charges filed against Chara. I would personally be very upset if Chara's career is ruined over this catastrophic, but accidental, hockey check.
Hockey would be a completely different sport to watch without the fights. I love that hockey video games almost always have a fighting game component. When I used to play Wayne Gretzky's 3D hockey for the N64 with my friend, we seemed to play mostly for the fights. I don't know why we didn't just play a game like Mortal Kombat instead.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis hit really was horrendous, and I hope Pacioretty recovers quickly. We don't know what was going through Zdeno Chara's mind, but I highly doubt he intended to break Pacioretty's vertebra and give him a severe concussion. He was simply going for the "big check" right in front of the bench. If Pacioretty got right up, this hit would have simply been viewed as a solid check and momentum would probably shift in favor of the Bruins. Rather, because of the unfortunate location of the hit, Pacioretty was severely injured. Chara should get an in-game penalty, like he did, but I do not think any further punishment is necessary. The NHL agrees with me, and they have decided that no further punishment was warranted. Sadly, the Montreal Police Department does not agree with myself or the NHL. A criminal investigation was announced by Montreal police a few days ago. This is absurd. Firstly, it is highly unlikely that Mr. Chara intended to assault Mr. Pacioretty. Secondly, when players step on the rink they understand the risks. Hockey is a particularly dangerous sport, and professional hockey players know they are going to get knocked around night in and night out. I hope when Pacioretty comes to his senses he makes a public announcement that he would not like charges filed against Chara. I would personally be very upset if Chara's career is ruined over this catastrophic, but accidental, hockey check.
ReplyDeleteHockey would be a completely different sport to watch without the fights. I love that hockey video games almost always have a fighting game component. When I used to play Wayne Gretzky's 3D hockey for the N64 with my friend, we seemed to play mostly for the fights. I don't know why we didn't just play a game like Mortal Kombat instead.
ReplyDelete