Air Canada Letter regarding hockey injuries

[Matthew Kane]

A letter Air Canada sent to Gary Bettman regarding hockey injuries. I thought this was a bit funny:http://www.cbc.ca/news/pdf/AC-NHL-Letter-March-09-2011.PDFGary Bettman responded by saying, "If they decide that they need to do other things with their sponsorship dollars, that's their prerogative, just like it's the prerogative of our clubs that fly Air Canada to make other arrangements if they don't think Air Canada is giving them the appropriate level of service."Looks like the Air Canada Centre may get a new name. I wonder if it will become the Porter Airline Centre or WestJet Centre.

[Dave Morgan]

A letter Air Canada sent to Gary Bettman regarding hockey injuries. I thought this was a bit funny:http://www.cbc.ca/ne...rch-09-2011.PDFGary Bettman responded by saying, "If they decide that they need to do other things with their sponsorship dollars, that's their prerogative, just like it's the prerogative of our clubs that fly Air Canada to make other arrangements if they don't think Air Canada is giving them the appropriate level of service."Looks like the Air Canada Centre may get a new name. I wonder if it will become the Porter Airline Centre or WestJet Centre.

Good on 'em. It's as bad as lobbing a cricket ball at the batsman's head!... or playing in colours. (How vulgar).

[JohnFromCO]

I normally don't agree with Bettman since he is not a hockey guy (came out of the NBA) and his decisions are often skewed toward marketable players rather than for good of the sport. However, I will say I agree with him completely regarding Air Canada. It is none of their business and they can take their money elsewhere if they don't like it. I do wonder if the Bruins will use AC again.

[Matthew Kane]

I agree, Betman is right on the money with that response. The Zdeno Chara - Max Pacioretty hit looked really bad however the one thing about it is. With the hockey boards the safety glass does not go around 100% of the perimeter of the ice surface. Their are 2 areas where the glass is recessed behind the team boxes in Montreal. That hit occurred in the area where the glass is recessed back and Pacioretty struck the glass head-on in the corner where the glass rejoins the perimeter of the ice surface. You can see that in the Youtube videos. I consider that one of the design flaws in the dasher board systems and one of the contributors to his injuries. Had this happened a couple of feet further down the ice and away from that corner he most likely would have not been injured.Now what the question is did Zdeno Chara time that hit to send Pacioretty into that corner at that spot or was it just a bad coincidence. Those guys are well aware of hitting over the players box is a dirty move as it sends the player over the boards into the box or as in this case into that corner of glass. I think looking at the video things happened too fast to say he timed something like that. It looks like that was just how that play turned out, and it happened at a really bad spot.Air Canada has nothing to do with any of this as it is between the players, the league and general managers to address these situations. In my country Rugby is a rough sport and Air New Zealand is a very proud sponsor of that. These sort of things happen in these types of sports.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=jimZ1tSdPY0

[JohnFromCO]

Your link appears to be broken.Here is another

As for the hit you can see Chara knows the puck is gone and Max is no longer part of the play. I think it was a late hit and Chara knew exactly where he was on the ice. Chara has been attempting to get Max since the January 8 loss where Chara attempted to get in a post game fight. So the two have had history and in the HD feeds you can see Chara look up at the boards/post right before the hit. But Chara like similar dirty player Cooke are part of the new NHL where marketable stars are protected and given taps on the wrists. IMO Chara knew what he was doing but it is a full contact sport and that section of glass needs to be removed. Let Pierre do his commentary from between the penalty boxes.

[Matthew Kane]

I think that is correct. Chara did know what he was doing and that glass section there needs to go. And yep the Bruins may be looking for a new Airline to fly into Canada with....

[dmaher]

Yeah, maybe the consequences didn’t cross Chara’s mind, but he knew precisely what he was doing – checking into a stanchion. He saw the opportunity and he took it. I have no issue with Air Canada’s position…it’s their money and their image.

[Guest JSkorna]

No, he was checking a player and checking is a part of the game. He didn't have time to think, Oh, look there is a stanchion. Let me check this guy into it.

[dmaher]

No, he was checking a player and checking is a part of the game. He didn't have time to think, Oh, look there is a stanchion. Let me check this guy into it.

Really? :) I figure at this level they can find the end of the bench blindfolded - BTW, I’m not saying he really meant to cripple the guy.

[duckbilled]

Interference, yes, but not suspension worthy. And frankly, 20 years ago it wouldn't have even been a penalty. It is a penalty because Bettman has taken a lot of the physical play out of hockey. If Pacioretty had been in possession of the puck, the hit would have been clean. Sure, it was in a bad position along the boards but I don't think there was intent to injure.You look at the check delivered by Lemieux on Draper in the 1996 playoffs, that was a check from behind in to the boards in front of the bench - major penalty. Draper broke his jaw, his nose... The Wings evened the score the following year.Interference is not a major penalty. Lemieux got a 2 game suspension, a 5 minute major and a game misconduct. Charra got a 5 minute major and a game misconduct for a minor penalty - that makes no sence to me let alone a suspension. The injury was bad but the penalty wasn't. Sometimes it works that way.Hockey is a contact sport and other than the additional two minutes for drawing blood on a high sticking, the injury has nothing to do with the penalty. If it does, the officials are making calls by the seat of their pants. Innocent plays result in injuries all the time. The real problem with the NHL is the lack of consistency in calling the game, not the physical nature of the game (and that includes fighting).Bad marketing strategy = Air Canada ditching hockey because they think the sport is too rough.

[Matthew Kane]

No, he was checking a player and checking is a part of the game. He didn't have time to think, Oh, look there is a stanchion. Let me check this guy into it.

True Dat. A lot of athletes have that Muscle Memory and checking is a part of the game. He knew what he was doing but these plays happen without thinking. That check was no different then any other except for the fact that glass section was there. I don't think he planned to nail him into the glass as that one comes down to a poor layout in the design of those boards.

[Guest veeray]

"contact" sports and "contact" racing appeal to a certain crowd. I don't think Air Canada does enough business with this crowd to even care and if they do they have no option anyways, it's not like they're a beer company.

[Guest veeray]

And no football I don't lump in with that bunch.. 99% of the players are complete gentleman on the field, the other 1% just need to show off once in awhile.

[Captain_Barfbag]

I watched the video a number of times, and concluded that the hit was hard, but it shouldn't have even been called for a minor penalty. If you follow the puck, you'll note that the hit took place before anyone else touched it. Therefore, Pacioretty was still, for the sake of the rule, the "puck carrier." Interference, which they called on Chara, involves players other than the puck carrier only. That's why you often see a guy get clobbered right after he gets rid of the puck, and nothing is called.The wall of glass that Pacioretty hit could have been better designed, or better padded, to reduce the possibilty of injury. I'm guessing that it will have a new look next season, or maybe even later this year.When I watched the video again this time, I was specifically looking for Air Canada ads on the boards or in the ice. I didn't see any. I'd half expected to see a big Air Canada logo right where they were loading Pacioretty on to a stretcher, but that didn't happen. If Air Canada expects to only sponsor sports where injury doesn't occur, and aggressive body contact is non-existent, then they might want to switch to curling.

[Matthew Kane]

The wall of glass that Pacioretty hit could have been better designed, or better padded, to reduce the possibilty of injury. I'm guessing that it will have a new look next season, or maybe even later this year.

I used to work for the company that manufactured those dasher boards in the Montreal Forum when I used to live in Toronto. My job was 3D Modeling all their old 2D AutoCAD Drawing into 3D Drawings for the welding department to assemble. The system was called the check-flex/glass-flex system.I found it interesting that one of the steps taken by Gary Bettman was:- Retaining safety engineers to ensure all NHL arenas conform to standards, including the elimination of seamless glass by next season.The company I worked for did not employ any engineers. I always felt the seamless glass was a risk in other areas including when the top plastic clip came off, the two sections of glass would swing freely. If that happened it would be possible for someone’s arm or shoulder to get wedged between the two glass panels causing it to pinch a player or severe a limb. Also the area where this hit was also another major vulnerable area. basically running into a wall. Should not have been installed like that.I had fun working with these guys but this operation mostly consisted of an NHL Team owner and a good designer, but no engineers. So I am not surprised they are having a look at these systems now. Truth is there are no legislation behind something like installing Dasher Boards requiring engineering stamps or approval like installing any other equipment in another workplace. If I was to install an engine assembly line in a Ford factory I would require multiple engineering approvals, however installing dasher boards in an arena wouldn't require any.Mostly it was a culture of what the customer wants, the customer gets. So this is why the Montreal Forum had that wall in place where that hit occurred. Althought the system was designed with safety in mind to soften a hit. The configuration of that glass panel would not have had safety in mind but instead the needs to meet the requests of the customer.These boards are all over the place and not just NHL Arena's. Local arena's, colleges, universities, community centres, high schools, you name it.