Saint Nik said:
Captain Canuck said:
Awful, awful news! What the hell is going on in the NHL that enforcer-type players are dying so young? There should be an official NHL inquiry into this matter because its becoming a serious issue!
I don't think we can draw a straight line like that just yet. Boogard fatally mixed painkillers with alcohol and Rypien killed himself after a long struggle with mental illness. Without knowing the cause of Belak's death it's probably a little soon to link them to each other or even hockey in general.
While true that we don't know the cause of death I just have a bad feeling about it. Really it doesn't matter how, but why they died young?
I wonder about the culture of the NHL enforcer. Its a role where you have to act tough and macho so I'd imagine it would be tough to seek help with personal problems because you wouldn't want people to think you were weak.
I remember Wade talking about laying awake at night not being able to sleep just thinking about the fight to come the next night. While a forward never knows which night he'll score or a goalie which night he'll get a shutout, an enforcer can control when the next fight is.
Having been in enough fights in my life to know those feelings of fear, excitement and that rush of adrenaline I couldn't imagine having to do that as an occupation. I think that would be really hard on the head after a while.
Kordic dies and thats tragic, same with Probert....with so much time in between thats all people think about. Now we've got 3 in the past few months and maybe that will get people thinking that there is more to it than just being tragic. I know some people are going to say they died of drugs, alcohol abuse, mental illness, etc., but was it something about their job that caused that?
I enjoy fighting in hockey as much as the next fan, but not at the expense of players lives.
