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Adam Johnson: Arrest over ice hockey player's death - BBC News (www.bbc.co.uk)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Wasn't sure if this was appropriate for the community, so if it needs to come down then okay.

As for the news itself. I've still not seen the video, but holy crap.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's always been a bit odd to me how actions that would be criminal anywhere else are permitted as long as you're on a specifically sized sheet of ice with certain lines painted on it.

I can't speak to this particular incident, but I officiated for a number of years the things some players did were just vicious. Deliberate cross checks or slashes to the head, checks from behind, all purely with the intent to injure...step off the ice, you're probably facing time, but on the ice, it's part of the game.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Part of it is just that there's consent in playing the game. A check would be assault & battery if you weren't playing hockey, but playingthe game meansyou'reok with getting hit. It's pretty hard to draw a line between criminal action and physical play in most circumstances, so if no one gets seriously hurt there generally aren't consequences.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Good point, but I don't think egregious actions should fall under that umbrella. Yes you consent to a certain level of risk with play that's under the general rules of the game, but a deliberate cross-check to the mouth with intent to injure, for example (happened in a local game last spring), is in no way part of the regular course of a hockey game. If we were to draw lines, I'd say a match penalty could constitute a potentially criminal act.

I think it'd be interesting to see such a case go to court today.