Barks Bites for week of March 14

Montreal Police should investigate Zdeno Chara hit

I am going to have to use a quote from my old boss Don Cherry about today's equipment for hockey players.

With the focus of the hockey world on the Zdeno Chara hit earlier this month it brought me back to something Don said when I worked with the Mississauga IceDogs.

"Today's equipment could kill someone: was the one thing that Don said that stood out. An elbow pad today is as hard as concrete and shoulder pads are made with kevlar - the same material that can stop a bullet. No wonder today's players think they they are INVINCIBLE when they are on the ice.

Lets go back to the days when everyone used wood sticks not hi tech composite weapons and what about the goalies?

I grew up watching Johnny Bower and Les Binkley who never wore a mask. The gloves and pads they wore  were no thicker than a few inches of horsehide covered felt.

Today's goalies look like the Michelin man with a mask!

I still remember back in the days when you could count the number of players who wore a helmet. Now they even wear them in a non contact affair like the All Star Game.

But back to Chara's hit. Montreal Police are getting involved and I have to agree here, cause if I did that to someone on the street I would be wearing an orange jump suit in jail and not #33 for the Boston Bruins.

Like the title of Don Cherry's movie KEEP YER HEAD UP KID!!!!