Hockey is a sport where contact is inevitable. Each game, players check each other with incredible force and get into fights regularly. It is a culture that the sport has nurtured throughout its history and it doesn’t plan on changing anytime soon. But in a fast paced and physical game such as Hockey, concussions and PED’s become an issue. The league and player’s association have a concussion and PED protocol that has attempted to decrease both aspects, but have only had minimal success.
Unlike the NFL and the MLB, where PED’s are primarily used for strength, NHL players mainly use steroids for speed and agility. University of Western Ontario associate professor Ken Kirkwood, who specializes in researching the ethics of performance-enhancing drug use, believes there’s a drug out there for every type of NHL player. “Steroids are very versatile,” Kirkwood says. “They don’t just make you big and strong. They can make you faster, they can allow you to recover quicker. They allow you to play and train harder the next day. How you use them is up to you. If you’re going to be a big power forward and you need to be 220 pounds, but you need to be a lean 220, there’s tons of people who would know what drug to put you on. If you’re going to be 185 pounds, but you’re going to be a Darcy Tucker-style player, then there’s drugs to keep you going in that regard as well…”
The NHL’s PED program has been under strict scrutiny over the past few years due to the fact that it has only caught 2 players over the past eight seasons using performance enhancing drugs, not including the current one. Although the NHL has not had a history of drug abuse, there should be a call for stricter testing in a high contact sport. An Olympic style drug test seems appropriate for such a sport. Instead of other technologies that use hair or urine to test for drugs, an Olympic style drug test kit uses blood. According to J. Michael Falgoust of U.S.A. today, blood is more effective way of determining whether or not there are drugs in a person’s system. “Unlike urine” Falgoust said, “blood can reveal if there’s evidence of drug use by analyzing the bodily functions that may have been altered even though the particular drug used is no longer present.”
As for the realm of concussions, the NHL changed their protocol a few years ago. It now requires players to undergo a baseline neuropsychological evaluation before engaging in full contact play. This evaluation involves the ImPACT program, which is administered by neuropsychologists. If a player is diagnosed with a concussion, the same program is used for the post-concussion neuropsychological evaluation test. A player must pass a series of tests using state of the art technology before returning to the ice. Although preemptive measures have been taken to increase the safety of players, the rate of concussions seems to be increasing. A recent statistical study shows that the rate of concussions in the NHL has steadily increased between the 2009 and 2013 seasons.
Both of these aspects of the game of hockey seem to be correlated. The stronger the players are, the harder the hits and the more brutal the fights will be. The NHL needs to take action in order to decrease the amount of concussions and PED’s used in their sport. The NFL had to change up its rules to decrease the amount of in game concussions. It’s only a matter of time before some serious injuries cause the NHL to change their ways.