The Carolina Hurricanes lost one of their top-four defenseman on Tuesday when Joni Pitkanen sprinted into his own zone to win an icing race and injured his ankle as a result of his foot colliding with the end boards.
The veteran blueliner was taken off the ice in a stretcher and will not return to the Hurricanes' lineup in 2013, according to TSN's Darren Dreger.
This incident is the perfect example of why the NHL must adopt hybrid icing for next season to make the game safer, especially for defensemen who take part in icing races multiple times each game.
Here is a video of Pitkanen's collision with the boards:
The point of hybrid icing is to avoid major collisions with the boards and decrease the chances of horrible injuries occurring in icing situations.
In hybrid icing, the race to the puck ends at the faceoff dot and not when a player touches it below the goal line. If the defending team wins the race to the faceoff dot, the whistle is blown. If the attacking team wins the race, there is no whistle.
This version of icing gives players more space between the bottom of the faceoff circle a ...
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Article written by Nicholas Goss
Why Joni Pitkanen Injury Shows NHL Needs to Adopt Hybrid Icing
April 5th, 2013 by Nicholas Goss Leave a reply »
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