"Old timey" hockey is BS

Icebreaker - Deirdre Martin (Berkley Sensation, 2011)

At first, I couldn't figure out what made me so cranky about this book. It follows a formula that has worked well enough for me in the past: urban career woman ends up working for/with a hockey team [other sports acceptable] and is drawn to the no-nonsense, driven captain.

In this case, Sinead O'Brien is defending Adam Perry against trumped up assault charges stemming for a fairly brutal (albeit not uncommon) hit on another team's player. Obviously, the assault charge thing is absurd, fine. But it raises an entire plotline that posits Adam as the heroic defending of traditional hockey, against suits that are trying to sissify the game. While I'm as eager as the next girl to see Gary Bettman hilariously skewered as a greasy, greedy, union-busting lawyer, this plot rankles. Big time.

I'm sorry, but even in 2011 (especially in 2011) the issue of headshots in professional hockey was too big to dismiss so blithely. It also happened to be the year my very favorite player - the reason I became a hockey fan in the first place - finally retired, because doctors told him continuing to play was far too risky given his history of concussions. What Martin does - probably without intending to, or maybe she just disagrees with me - is glorify a style of play that became increasingly dangerous, that takes headshots, concussions, and brain damage as an acceptable price to pay. I'm sorry, but I can't get on board with that, and as a result, I could only celebrate the idea that Adam Perry retired, allowing the "evil suits" on the Board of Governors to really push the kinds of rule changes that would make hockey more about skills and less about trying to injure your opponent in the name of sport.