Hockey head shots

Unless you have had your head in the sand  in recent months you are probably aware of issue of concussions in the NHL. There seems to be an epidemic of head injuries lately and I have some ideas on why they are happening. Head shots have been a much discussed topic this season but I think some important points have been ignored or left unspoken. Certainly the players are bigger, the equipment is harder, and the game is faster (a bit faster) but there are several other factors as to why I think players seem to be suffering more concussions.
First of all when I played hockey as a youngster and into my 20's (the 60's and 70's) I don't remember anyone ever using the term "finish the check". What that term actually means is hit the player after he has passed the puck, sometimes a good second after he has passed the puck. Our understanding back then was if a player had the puck he was free game for a hit, hopefully a hard and clean one. If the puck was already gone when you got there you did your best to hold up. I think if that rule was in place now there would be a fewer head injuries.
Secondly if you took a run at a player like we see so often today you would receive a charging penalty. The rule back then (possibly one of those unwritten rules) I believe was that you were allowed 3 strides before hitting an opponent. This obviously meant it was virtually impossible to have a full head of steam so you could destroy someone.
Thirdly I believe today's crop of players are lacking in the self preservation skills necessary to avoid some of these catastrophic hits they are taking. I think the fact that they wear face cages for their entire amateur career gives them a feeling of invincibility. They put their heads into danger more often because the fear of a puck or a stick damaging their pretty faces is non existent. We were always aware of these dangers and played accordingly so as not to lose a tooth or suffer a cut that required stitches.
The fourth point is today it is routine to see a player facing the boards with his head down to protect the puck. One of the reasons why they could do this growing up through the hockey ranks is that there was a STOP sign on the back of their sweaters to prevent hits from behind. Why not teach them that facing the boards with their heads down is a real bad idea.
Two other incidents of lack of self preservation are the Raffi Torres hit on Brent Seabrook in the playoffs recently and the incident in junior hockey a few years ago when Mike Liambas ended Ben Fanellis "career". In the Seabrook incident Torres caught him with his head down and laid a wicked check on him. Torres was penalized but in my book he was doing exactly what he was supposed to do. Seabrook had only to take a quick split second look to his left as he headed behind the net and he would have seen Torres but he did nothing and consequently took a heck of a big hit that he could have prevented. In the Fanelli incident the same basic lack of self preservation was Fanelli's undoing. He headed behind his net with no clue of what was going on around him. He should have easily seen Liambas coming from the other direction but seemed completely clueless. Liambas did exactly what he had been taught to do since he was a youngster and that was take the player out. He did his job but because Fanelli was seriously hurt the bleeding hearts started coming out of the woodwork to condemn what was simply a very hard hit on a player who looked like he was out of his element.
In closing I will quote what my Father said to me before many of my hockey games as a healthy reminder. "Keep your head up". That is something I never forgot and may be why I never really took many big hits while I played. Thanks Dad.