There's the culture, and then there's the way games can be played. I go back to the workplace analogy. People come to work just like kids come to games. Kids need to grow up into adults and be healthy, and I'm not sure that the culture is 100% focused on the health and safety of the kids. It's how to get faster and how to get more ice time. Parents like action and goals.
Ash mentioned that it becomes a very big part of your social life. You're almost on vacation with these people when you travel to tournaments, so it ties in to so many elements of an individual and a kid growing up. They're your friends, it's your family, you spend so much time with them, and there's so much money spent.
If we spent more money, time and energy on how to play the game safely, redesigning it.... My son would have benefited from parents and coaches spending more time learning respect for the game and players as individuals, so that he wouldn't have been hit. Some of the things said—