364 More Days Until Next Year's Hockey Tryouts. Gotta Toughen Up
Before we get going here, I feel like this video needs to come with a disclaimer.
Okay now that that's out of the way...
There's a major epidemic in the game of hockey these days. Kids barely even learn how to hit anymore. Which means that they don't learn how to take a hit anymore. All they care about is learning how to do the Michigan and every other skill move they see on Instagram. They stickhandle through a bunch of little obstacles on the ice like they're McDavid, but none of them learn how to not put themselves in vulnerable positions around dangerous areas of the ice. Like cutting across the middle of the ice with their head down, or turning their back to avoid a check in the corners.
This fella right here isn't going to have to worry about being on the receiving end of a devastating hit through the neutral zone anymore. Mainly because he may never want to play hockey again after that one. Maybe give your back a break for the rest of your life. But even if he is medically cleared to play again, he'll never have to be afraid of taking a hit on the ice again. Once you go flying down a set of 12 stairs directly on your back with your buddy landing on top of you, suddenly taking a shoulder to he chest at center ice doesn't seem so bad anymore. Now he just gets to play the game loose and free. It makes this Tom Wilson hit look like nothing more than a little slap.
But again, please do not try to recreate that video because there's a strong chance the next guy to do it literally isn't able to get up and walk it off. Somehow humanity was able to escape that one without suffering a major injury, but I don't think we'll get that lucky again. Just stick to soaking some baseballs at the batting cages.