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Hockey hit

A weekly sports commentary column for the 100 Mile Free Press
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Former Vancouver Canucks player, Alexandre Burrows, now with the Ottawa Senators was suspended for 10 games after kneeing New Jersey Devils forward, Taylor Hall, in what looked like a rage-filled attack.

It’s not Burrows first foray into going off the deep end during a hockey game, nor his first time being suspended. Yet, 10 games feel like he’s being let off easy.

Burrows seemed to go after Hall in retaliation for a legal hit, cross-checking Hall in the back all the way to the Senators net where a scramble ensued. After the whistle was blown, Burrows jumped Hall, punching him from behind until he fell on top of Hall and repeatedly used his knee as a battering ram against the back of the Devil’s players head.

Of course, there will be people who dismiss the Quebec native’s actions as part of traditional hockey and the glory days of the rough and tumble of hockey embodied by the Broad Street Bullies (the 1970s Philadelphia Flyers) and the Big Bad Bruins (Boston in the 60s). Sure, playing on the edge can be an entertaining brand of hockey but what Burrows did crossed the line, particularly in an era where concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) are one of the leading topics of conversations in professional sports.

The NHL may still silently deny CTE exists, but it is heavily acknowledged by former players and media figures such as former Montreal Canadiens goalie, Ken Dryden.

Accidental hits to the head are bound to happen but multiple blows to the head with a knee cannot be described as accidental, nor forgiven. Especially when the list of former NHL players who have died while suffering symptoms of CTE grows larger - Bob Probert, Derek Boogaard, Wade Belek, Rick Rypien and Steve Montador.

Hall, fortunately, was okay and returned to the game but the NHL should have used Burrows as an example. After all, he has a reputation for taking things too far such as taking up finger biting during Vancouver’s 2011 run to the Stanley Cup but he has never been as dangerous as headhunters Matt Cooke or Raffi Torres. Neither of them play in the NHL anymore but have received multiple-game suspensions including a 2015 41-game suspension Torres received after an illegal check on Anaheim Ducks player Jakob Silfverberg while playing for the San Jose Sharks.

It was the fourth longest suspension given in the NHL and was a message to the players about head hitting but the message seemingly hasn’t set in yet.