[MRM]

Yes, I know it happened in Canada. Canada is a common law country. The law on BDSM is the same here. You can obviously consent to contact that otherwise would be an assault, and you can consent to BDSM contact. The exception is that you can't consent to contact that ends up causing serious bodily harm - permanent nerve damage, broken bones, concussions. Serious bodily harm is actually a defined term. It changes slightly between jurisdictions, but that's the basic definition. There's some grey area, but typically even injuries that require an ER visit but aren't life threatening and don't require hospitalization aren't serious bodily injuries. It has to be pretty serious to qualify for an expedition to the general rule that consent is valid if mutually agreed upon.

There have been only two or three cases where a NHL hockey player has been charged with a crime in a game. Each time it's been something completely out of bounds like a two handed axe chop over the head with a hockey stick when the guy want looking. It's really unusual for a football or hockey player to be charged even when they fight or deliberately hurt each other.