OTTAWA, Ontario — NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman hit back Wednesday at the notion of banning any kind of head contact, telling a Canadian parliamentary panel that such a rule would be impossible to enforce and lead to the end of hitting.

The league has faced calls to penalize any head contact in the hope of eliminating potentially debilitating concussions. Those calling for a strict rule include Ken Dryden, the former Montreal Canadiens goalie and cabinet minister in Paul Martin’s Liberal government.

In sometimes combative testimony, Bettman said such a rule at the NHL level would mean larger players would inevitably land blows on smaller players’ heads in the normal course of play, leading to penalties. Ultimately “there would be no more body checking” — something that players and fans feel is an “exciting, appealing, entertaining” and important part of the game.

Bettman decried what he called “blanket statements about changing a rule” on head contact that might not address “where the injuries are being caused.”

He said the game is safer for players and different in terms of physical contact from football, where there are repeated blows to players’ heads, and he questioned any direct link between multiple hockey concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly were the final witnesses of the committee’s study before it tables a report.