Wrasslin', but with ice!

Here in Canada, hockey fighting** has been in the news (or on the opinion pages, at least) almost continually since the January death of an amateur player in Ontario. It was an interesting debate, but, like any other headline-worthy topic, it's been beaten to death^^ by the media. So without rehashing too much, one fundamental objection to fighting is on the grounds of player safety. Especially distressing is the possibility of more slip-fall-bang head-kaput incidents. Which brings me to last night's Canucks-Blackhawks brawl:


Almost all the discussion surrounding the fight has been about Canuck Alex Burrows grabbing hold of Duncan Keith's hair (visible starting around 1:20), most of which discourse reaches an approximate conclusion of "Alex Burrows has a fully-functioning uterus". Mostly unmentioned has been the move*** Blackhawk Ben Eager^^^ performs on Kevin Bieksa (around 1:10). I could find nothing in the online NHL rulebook prohibiting, um, bodyslams (or any other specific action, hair-pulling included). This strikes me as...negligent, somehow, as that little manoeuver seems, in two words, insanely dangerous. Hell, Eager almost hits his own helmetless head on the ice. As questionable as Alex Burrows' FINISHING MOVE was, the potential consequences of being dropped back-first onto the ice are orders of magnitude more serious than those of having a scrawny Frenchman pull one's hair.


**For lack of a more eloquent term.
^^Then hacked to bits, then blasted into the sun. They really did a number on it.
***Whose name I'm unaware of, but surely includes the prefix "Power-".
^^^Total 'ckhawk-sucker.