Peace, Love and Hockey

The hockey world has been infused with an anxious excitement these past few days, and with very good reason. Sidney Crosby, the best hockey player in the world is reportedly "destroying" the workouts he is being given by the Pittsburgh Penguins training staff as he prepares to return from a concussion suffered in early January. With every passing day Crosby inches closer to returning, and whether you love him or despise him, Sidney Crosby is needed to make the NHL marketable, his talent is once in a generation and it has been missed these past nine weeks. But there is reason for NHL fans to be cautious in their optimism. First of all, Crosby is returning from a major concussion, he will most definitely require a number of games to adjust to the high speed at which professional hockey is played (although knowing Crosby a hat trick on his first night back is completely plausible). Perhaps more importantly, this is Crosby's first ever major concussion, what will he be like...

It doesn't surprise me anymore when I see hits to the head in professional hockey. My feelings vary each time I watch a player being crushed by a flying elbow or a massive and purposeful shove from behind. Disgust? Definitely. Sadness? Most of the time. Concern? Always. But surprise? Not now, not anymore not after the past two seasons, not after watching what all of the fans have had to watch, watching what the injured players have been forced to endure, watching as the most powerful people in the league sit idly by as their best players move from the ice to the infirmary. Fans speak of change, but smarter hockey pundits than you or I tell us that change will be slow, and it will be done the right way, and most importantly it will be done in a way that will not "ruin the game as it is meant to be played." The hockey world has had some time to digest the latest cheap shot by Colin Campbell's best customer, Matt Cooke. Keeping in mind that the Cooke's longest suspe...