Death with a hockey stick: why there are more injuries and tragedies on ice

Not an accident, but a trend

In mid-August, the whole of Russia was shocked by sad news. A 14-year-old SKA player died from a puck hit in the chest. During the practice of the game in unequal compositions, the boy covered the goalkeeper, the puck bounced into his chest after a click. For a few seconds, the young athlete was still rolling on the ice of the rink, and then he fell. The doctor who was in the sports complex came to the rescue immediately. After 20 minutes, resuscitation assistance arrived – Vsevolod was still alive. He died already in the hospital – his heart stopped, and it was no longer possible to start it.

Two weeks later, a tragedy almost occurred in St. Petersburg at the opening match of the VHL (All-Russian Hockey League) championship between two clubs from the northern capital – Dynamo and SKA-Neva. At the 25th minute of the meeting, Dynamo defender Artem Maltsev pushed Kirill Tankov, the forward of SKA-Neva, onto the board. The army man flew into the wall with his head and collapsed as if knocked down. He left the ice on a stretcher.

After the match, terrible details became known: Tankov had a fracture of the fifth cervical vertebra. A little more, and a fatal outcome could occur. But so far no one guarantees that Kirill will return to hockey. Recovery will take a year at best.

In March 2021 (the MHL playoffs were underway), during a match between Loko Yaroslavl and Dynamo Petersburg, a puck hit Dynamo player Timur Fayzutdinov in the head. Three days later, the hockey player died in intensive care. The equipment failed. The helmet that hockey players wear saves from tangential hits, but with strong impacts it only cushions it. The ear area for many remains open at all. Some athletes use special protection – a plastic plate that is attached to the helmet and covers the auricle. However, many professionals refuse it: they say, it’s uncomfortable, it’s hard to hear partners. The 19-year-old defender did not use the earpiece. The puck hit him in the temporal bone, hitting, as it turned out later, the carotid artery.

Any death is a tragedy. Especially a young hockey player. But the frequency with which players have been dying in Russia lately is frightening. Over the past six years, four hockey players have died from being hit by a puck. And this is no longer an accident, but a trend.

But what steps can be taken? All the dead went out on the ice in modern protection, which, it seemed, should save. The tragedy was attributed to the negligence of the coach, the violation of equipment, the physiological characteristics of the athlete’s body.

Yes, you can improve all kinds of “shields” as much as you like, but this does not give one hundred percent guarantees. After all, a player who hits the puck “from the heart” supplies it not only with a breakneck speed (over 100 km / h), but also weighing up to 560 kg.

“Hockey got tough”

“Of course, it is impossible to name one reason for accidents on the site,” says Mikhail Panin, a former player of CSKA and SKA. – The first is the fierceness of the struggle! Young people realize very early that they can earn their living only in the KHL. There are worthy contracts that allow for five to seven years of performances to ensure a comfortable old age. Everyone, let’s say, wants to live beautifully. Therefore, already at the youth level, hockey became very tough. I often watch competitions of different ages, the guys work with their elbows the only way. A little gape, and you’re already passed out. But when they later move, for example, from youth teams to the VHL, they run into older, more experienced, physically stronger opponents. Any push below the belt – and the guy loses his balance. Especially when you have not yet acquired “meat” – as in the case of Tankov.

… I brought my son to SKA in the early 1990s, and at the very first training session, one of the partners accelerated into his back. As a result, he flew headlong into the board from two meters. And soon, due to an injury, he finished playing hockey.

As for cases with a direct hit of the puck, much depends on the training of the coaches who work with children and young men. In a situation where Dynamo defender Fayzutdinov died, he simply stopped controlling the puck, although you need to look at the thrower to the end. Apparently, the boy was not explained, did not chew this moment. We need professional coaches, and we try to get into the teams of masters immediately after the end of their careers – after all, the salary is big, no one wants to work in the “black box”.

A lot of serious injuries occur after throws from afar, when the guys are fighting on the “nickle”. My opinion: under the age of 14-15, playing under the goal is not needed at all. Only learning to skate, work with a club, tactics – and that’s it! Why scare children and parents away from sports, from hockey? And then there is some kind of principledness that no one needs in our clubs. Victories are required by any means.

Probably, incidents with severe injuries cannot be completely excluded, but can be minimized. If a player knows how to get under the puck safely, how to block shots. But hockey is a tough sport, and if parents send their children there, they should be ready for anything. Do you think that with me, with hockey players of our generation, there were no cases of serious injuries? Enough!

– Then the equipment was less durable?

On the contrary, it’s better. Leggings are 50 centimeters long, and now they are like street gloves. Nerve endings, carpal, pisiform bones – everything is bare! Previously, the entire arm was covered by the armrest. Plus, they themselves sewed, wound. Yes, now each player will strengthen, strengthen protective equipment. But you can’t remove traffic in front of the gate. Just like power wrestling. Otherwise, how will the Russian national teams perform on the international arena?

“The instinct of self-preservation must work”

Power struggle may not be removed, but in the NHL and KHL they throw much harder than in the matches of children and youths. Yes, players get injured, but no one dies. Lately, anyway.

Maybe it is necessary to carry out medical examinations of young hockey players more carefully and remove from classes those who have predispositions and health problems?

And, probably, it is necessary to check the manufacturers of ammunition. After all, it may turn out that helmets and breastplates are thinner than they should be. For proper fit, equipment is usually customized to fit the player. This form becomes more convenient, but no one guarantees safety.

Power wrestling in children’s hockey is banned (both in Russia and in the West) on average up to 12 years. But at this age in North America they take a special course where they learn to apply blows and move away from them. And in our country there is no such widespread practice yet, which can also be the cause of injuries in contact.

“The introduction of young people into the squad, of course, must be timely,” explains the former head coach of the Russian national team Vladimir Plushev. “It’s a man’s tough game. I understand that when people enter the court, they do not even look at the age of the opponent, who is wearing a mask, who is not. And the fact that young people are not always ready for such a struggle is absolutely clear. Nature is hard to change. There is a growing organism, there is already formed. And it is very difficult for a growing one against a formed one. Both physically and psychologically, not to mention technical and tactical. Now there is a lot of talk about deliberate fouls on the players of the SKA system – Michkov, Tankov. But at one time, coaches always taught us: “Guys, you must anticipate the opponent’s action, especially if there is a hard contact. The instinct of self-preservation should immediately work. Or hands forward, or going to the side. And such injuries, even considering the weak level of equipment, did not occur.

It is clear that they have not yet come up with a magic “leaf”, by applying which you can protect young hockey players from hidden pathologies and unsuccessful throws. However, the tragedies of Malkov, Fayzutdinov and others may already now affect hockey, its popularity and prospects. It is unlikely that parents who have sent or are only going to send their children to this sport will understand in detail the causes of accidents. The fact is that they exist and follow each other.

And in our time there are enough other, safer sports. Hockey has recently suffered from an aging audience and the high cost of equipment. It is possible that in the near future there will be even fewer people willing to send their children to dangerous sports.

Isn’t it time to take a comprehensive approach to safety issues in hockey, paying attention not only to equipment, which is already being regularly improved, but also to the work of coaches with players (how carefully they “chew” safety rules for young hockey players), the equipment of medical centers in sports complexes and the health status of the athletes themselves?