Len Hinkley has chosen to end his hockey career.
19 year old young man.
– Doctors say my brain is damaged.
Fighting in hockey has always been a topic of debate. Recently, outright fist fights have become increasingly rare, but they still happen – even at the beginner level.
Lynn Hinckley can attest to that.
The 19-year-old defenseman, who played for the Charlottetown Islanders in the QMJHL, has been involved in 14 fights over the past four seasons.
And now it had consequences.
– Last Friday morning I found out that my hockey career was over. A lot of hits, a lot of punches, a lot of concussions that I never recovered from. Doctors have discovered a 25 x 17 mm lesion in my brain, and say I’m at risk for CTE and early-onset dementia, he says.
CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy as it is actually called, is a brain disease caused by repeated violence to the head.
This leads to nerve cell damage, which in turn can lead to poor memory, poor impulse control, and increased susceptibility to addiction and depression.
Banned in Sweden
In Swedish hockey, they have actively worked to remove fights from the sport. In the current rulebook, it says this about “combat”.
“Fighting is not part of the DNA of this sport. A player who voluntarily participates in fighting (voluntary participant) shall be subject to a sending off at the referee’s discretion and may be excluded from the match. Further disciplinary action is possible.”
“should be allowed”
On the other hand, the person who is endorsing the fight is the latest signing of Brynä’s star – NHL veteran Jordie Benn, 36 years old.
-I think fighting should be allowed, we are all men, and it is a physical sport where it gets hot sometimes. Two players get out of their frustration and it’s over. But if this frustration is allowed to continue and live and live, then things get really bad. This is my opinion. Fighting makes things happen. Then the players know, “If I do this, I have to fight someone.” It’s an unwritten rule, don’t do anything because then you’ll have to defend it and fight. “I’m a big supporter of having her in the game,” he said in an interview with Sportbladet last week.