Hockey is known for it’s toughness, which can lead to players sacrificing themselves unnecessarily.

The idea of being a team is stamped into players’ minds and because of that, they are willing to do anything for their teammates. In the case of Washington Capitals’ forward Daniel Winnik, he was more than willing to lay down and try to block a 100-mile-per-hour slap shot Thursday night.

Watching the play in slow motion almost makes it worse. You know what is going to happen, Winnik is going to get clipped in the head.

He didn’t just get a puck off of his noggin,though. Part of his ear also fell off during the play, according to his head coach Barry Trotz. The nonchalant way Trotz describes the ear being torn off is startling in itself.

Surprisingly, Winnik got up under his own power and returned to the ice in just a couple of minutes. Winnik didn’t miss a shift, even though he was missing a body part.

Winnik may be trying to do his best Mick Foley impersonation, but in reality staying in the game is idiotic. Hockey players’ ego and pride has them sacrificing their bodies when they don’t have to. The fear is that at some point they will sacrifice their bodies and something worse will happen. What will be the point of all that toughness then?

[RMNB]

About Sam Blazer

Sam is a self proclaimed chess prodigy. He once placed seventh in the state of Ohio in Chess when he was in kindergarten. He will rarely if ever mention though that only eight people were entered in this tournament. Contact him at sblaze17@gmail.com