The difference between soccer players and hockey players ought to be clear. When standing in the path of a 100-mph slapshot, very few hockey players turn around or cover their crotches.
I usually tend to ignore hockey in these sorts of arguments because I consider it a winter sport, and one that is played on a near-frictionless surface. But now that I think of it, there was no hill that Joey Kocur and Bob Probert couldn't take.