Rules are there to protect hockey players

The recent column by Don Barrie about elite minor hockey league players in Ontario raised my hackles. He felt the stringent rules against head hits may be tempering the development of top level players.

The seriousness of concussions in youngsters is well documented, and we should be trying to reduce the incidence of this significant injury.

Your writer seems to believe that a few brain injuries to young hockey players is an acceptable price to pay to develop the odd professional hockey player. It is this attitude that is turning youngsters and their parents away from hockey. It is one of the reasons why minor hockey enrollment is dropping.