Yes.
No one's tackled it, but it's the hits to the head, unfortunately. Someone who always comes to mind is a player in Boston. His name is Zdeno Chara. He's so much taller than everybody that inevitably there's some contact here and there, but he does his absolute best not to have that contact occur, especially playing with someone like Patrice Bergeron, who has gone through a concussion, so he's very mindful of that. Getting rid of hits to the head, that's a really easy one.
We spoke of starting to hit, or learning to deal with body contact, after we've gone through puberty so there is more of a level playing field. I think that's a really easy one.
I don't know what goes on sometimes in parents' minds, when they want to put their kid through hockey 12 months a year. I mean, arenas are great and all, but they're not the end-all and be-all places to be. Everyone needs a break. I think it's true for everything. Research is coming back that kids who are taking breaks are doing better, so I think that's a great one.
It's about acting on these things. We know that Dr. Carolyn Emery has done the research on contact. Common sense says that if we don't have the contact, injuries are going to go down and concussions are going to go down, yet we still have the contact. Why is that? Where are our groups? Where's Hockey Canada on this?
It's a tough one, but I think it's a pretty easy fix. It wouldn't take a lot to change, and I think it would be for the better. We're still going to have great players—actually probably better players, because they're going to be better skaters. They're going to be better stickhandlers and puck movers, and think the game differently. Trust me. Learning how to work someone off a puck physically and accepting or giving body contact is something that you can pick up pretty quickly.