As brain injury researchers strike blow after blow against contact sport, parents are faced with difficult choices about what they will allow their children to play. At the risk of sounding flippant, nearly every sport and/or physical activity children take part in has some level of danger and risk of injury related with it. Even piano lessons expose kids to the potential for carpal tunnel syndrome and hearing loss. I understand hockey can be a dangerous game, but the media is not doing our game any favours by listing “a significantly higher risk of attempting suicide; links to anxiety and depression; and such emotional and cognitive symptoms as disturbed sleep, difficulty concentrating, frustration and forgetfulness,” among hockey’s by-products.

I’m just one dad who’s had one of two kids suffer a mild concussion and a broken fibula in order 25 years of combined hockey. I know several other children who have been injured in skiing, soccer, football gymnastics and dance. It just seems the seemingly weekly attention on minor hockey is a little over-inflated or maybe its because that many kids are still playing hockey vs. those other sports. I’m all for making the game safer and I think the media could better help convey the message things are being done in this regard.

#imahockeydad