Enforcers, and the Negative Affects of Jobs

To start, it would help to explain the role of an "enforcer". An enforcer is a term for the unofficial position of scaring and brawling the opponent during a hockey game. Basically if they see any rough play towards their teammates and/or goalie they will respond with more aggression, usually punching or checking the opposing team. The reason this is an unofficial position, is because it is a frowned upon part of the game, as it endorses and provokes violence. Another reason is that this summer 3 of the NHL's known enforcers, Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien, and Wade Belak, died of either suicide or drug overdose- leading fans to try to draw connections between their deaths and what being an enforcer did to them.

Belak, Rypien, and Boogaard respectively

As CNN put it, "Enforcers, past and present, have 'demons' they have to deal with" (CNN). The role of being an enforcer clearly has an impact on their personality, as in all three aforementioned cases the players resorted to drugs and alcohol to cope with their feelings. Although the three died in different ways, (suicide, drug OD, lethal combination of prescription drugs), the connection is their internal happiness with themselves.

The reason for this, is that being an enforcer, although needed to keep other teams in check or to show a teams strength, is harmful to others physically in addition to the enforcers' own self-image. This can be tied to any job that harms others outside of sports. For example, soldiers feel this "job-insecurity" more than anyone else. It is their job to provide security for the United States, but they after they see the kinds of horrors and atrocities in the middle-east, to kill or be killed, it is not uncommon for returning soldiers to resort to drugs or violence in order to cope with their inner-angst. Soldiers also commonly get Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as another side-affect from their job.

This brings us back to the enforcers. For these men, along with soldiers, their jobs, which are supposed to be their means of money to survive, have negative effects on their mental health. So, how can these negative aspects of ones job be dealt with? Really the only way to prevent it, is to address the problem before or immediately after it occurs. This would mean dealing with depression right away, talking to soldiers about their specific exposures to PTSD, or perhaps more officiating within the NHL on to what extent players can fight. I am by no means against the military or NHL, but I do think that this problem needs to be addressed.