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Canwest News Service
IN BRIEF: CRACKDOWN ON HITS TO THE HEAD
What's good enough for the NHL is, apparently, not good enough for the Olympic Games. The International Ice Hockey Federation said Thursday there will be zero tolerance for hits to the head during the hockey showdown in Vancouver next year. A hit to the head or neck area will be treated like checking from behind, with players receiving a two-minute minor plus a 10-minute misconduct, a five-minute major plus an automatic game misconduct or a match penalty. Said Canada's Murray Costello, the IIHF's vice-president: "With the size and speed of today's game, the players' talents and their lives are far too important to subject them to direct hits to the head. We must eliminate them from the game."
DID YOU KNOW?
– Girls' hockey registration in Canada has grown by 40 per cent over the past five years — 23 per cent in the past two years — at a time when the growth of boys' hockey has been stagnant.
– German speed-skating star Claudia Pechstein will learn on Nov. 25 whether she can take part in her sixth straight Winter Olympics, with the Court of Arbitration of Sport to rule on her appeal against a doping ban.
– Canadian figure skater Patrick Chan will unveil his new long program this week at Skate Canada. It won't include a quad, since a leg injury suffered earlier this season set his training back by at least two weeks.
