He's absolutely correct. The obvious difference between today's game and Richard's generation is the extra safety equipment. Players these days feel they can throw the elbow because the other guy has a helmet on or get their stick up high because the other guy is wearing a shield. The extra equipment gives today's players the feeling that they can go out and just plain wreck the other guy. As far as the hits from behind, it needs harsher enforcement of the rules. Some players think they are just finishing their check but that's just a poor excuse.

What is acceptable changes with time. He played in a league with little protection for players. A league where fights weren't staged, and elbows were the norm. Maybe he considers it offensive, but he's not playing anymore.

People were/are always out to hurt, to try and get an edge. With advances in protection, there are changes to how people attempt to achieve this.

While Richard may be right, I get tired of listening to these old players rip today's game and talk like when they played it was perfect. It's like listening to these old baseball players whine thier asses off when talking about McGwire and Sosa's padded home run totals. I think they're jealous these guys make so much money now. Granted, today's game is not perfect. But neither was it back then. It would be nice if these old guys could be happy with their careers and just keep their mouth shut.

I've always thought this. Imagine swinging your stick around carelessly back when no one had helmets or visors. I bet it wasn't looked upon very highly. The more equipment though, the less careful players will be.

Not having been around to watch him play, although my father certainly was, I can't say from personal experience if he's right but I believe he is. The same could be said for just about any other major sport, as well. My dad was telling me about going to see the Hawks at the old Chicago Stadium back when he was a kid, and the players would hang out in the parking lot and chat with the fans after the game, and sometimes their wives would be with them as well. They were beating each other up on the ice during the game, but after the game, they're smoking a cigarette or having a beer and chatting it up with people, like that never happened. I don't know if you'd see something like that today, unless it was in a controlled environment where everyone had been pre-screened for weapons first or something.

Also, as other people mentioned, they didn't have the kind of equipment/protection players do now, so players today can get away with things that Richard and his contemporaries couldn't have because they would have likely killed someone. So while there was physicality, it wasn't as brutal as it can be now. That might give the impression that it was more gentlemanly, but hockey is still hockey.

"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but *actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff." -- The Doctor

bulls*** ... another old timer trying to throw how good the old days were in our faces ... they were out of shape and went 10 mph .. So when you have a bunch of skinny outta shape vanilla faces that weigh 150 lbs and and are 5 foot tall ofcourse there isnt going to be any brutal s*** happening.

I remember reading something from back when the final few guys were still on the ice without helmets. It said that players watched out for those guys to be sure they didn't accidentally whack them in such a way that might injure them. It was done out of respect.

I'm sure that there are a lot of players who play with respect for the safety of their fellows on the ice, and I'm sure that there were those in the old days who didn't.

bulls*** ... another old timer trying to throw how good the old days were in our faces ... they were out of shape and went 10 mph .. So when you have a bunch of skinny outta shape vanilla faces that weigh 150 lbs and and are 5 foot tall ofcourse there isnt going to be any brutal s*** happening.

I'm not an old-timer, I'm 28. Being born in the Reagan administration doesn't qualify one as being an "old-timer"....unless you're someone who hasn't hit puberty yet.

"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but *actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff." -- The Doctor

In Mr. Richard's era, it was hockey and not much else to worry about; no other distractions, no other complications. The pay wasn't that good, but that's another topic altogether. You played the game not so much to take someone out but to make sure you didn't lose your position to someone else. Remember, there were basically only 120 positions to be filled in the League. Now, you've got players worrying about their next possible product endorsement deal, their "tweets" and craning their neck to watch a replay on the scoreboard so they can relive that last "big hit". Mr. Richard is correct and Mr. DS Cherry has also echoed this feeling.