User:Nicolelink55/Hockey

Ice Hockey Helmets: Safety
As there are many types of helmets, the ice hockey helmet was specifically designed for the safety of hockey players to prevent injury while at play. When hockey was first established as a sport, helmets did not yet exist. As time progressed and helmets in general began to appear in the 1920s, former professional hockey player, Red Kelly, shared there was a negative connotation associated with helmets. “Some of them who have put it on have been called ‘chicken,’” he stated. Because of this and the fact that they were optional, not everyone would wear them which resulted in many head injuries and even the death of a player in the late 60’s after hitting his head on the ice. Although players were getting hurt, it was difficult to officially mandate helmets in the NHL; the original hockey helmets were “uncomfortable”. More often than not, players refused to keep them on. Luckily with Kelly’s status, he had the ability to influence others and ultimately popularize helmer usage on the ice. Along with Kelly’s efforts, the makeup of the helmet had to see a change to ensure that player’s were both safe and comfortable. Finally, in 1979 the NHL implemented a rule that players must wear helmets on the ice.

As previously mentioned, the structure of the helmet played an essential role when it came to helmet usage before any mandated rules were applied in the NHL. Helmets are continuously being evaluated to this day because of the importance of head safety. For example, the Biomedical Engineering Society conducted a study in 2016 to evaluate effectiveness of hockey helmets in relation to inevitable but dangerous situations in which the players will be colliding, getting hit, falling, etc. Before carrying out this study, the academic journal article states that, “...research examining the cause of concussion in the National Hockey League (NHL) reported concussive events due to falls account for only 7% of all concussions while collisions with an opponent accounted for 88%.” Other concussion causes included different types of falls collisions as well being hit with equipment; thus, in order to carry out this experiment with accuracy, these possibilities needed to be accounted for to support the question of whether the current hockey helmets are doing their job to protect. Different machines were created for the purpose of mimicking these common concussion-causing events to test this. After numerous tests, it was confirmed that the helmets support “hard-rigid surface impacts” but not as much for others.

However, an additional study was done in 2022 by the American Society for Testing & Materials Compass to evaluate the accuracy of the helmet test protocol. This was done through the analysis of three different helmet impact tests including, the ice drop test, the anvil boards drop test, and the shoulder ram test. All of which are claimed to accurately represent what occurs in different ice hockey collisions to test the reliance on ice hockey helmets. Through the research that was conducted, it was discovered that while the testing for head-to-ice impacts seemed to be generally accurate, shoulder-to-head and head-to-boards impacts fell short. Both of these studies contribute to the fact that helmets, specifically in ice hockey, are continuously being evaluated and improved despite their long history of existence when it comes to sports in general.

On top of the makeup of the ice hockey helmet, another detail is the face mask. Former professional hockey player, Jacques Plante, began a movement with masked helmets among other goalies after breaking his nose for the fifth time on the ice in 1959. His decision to wear the face mask not only influenced other goalies in efforts to protect themselves, it started a conversation and pushed for the ultimate enforcement of more safety precautions in the NHL. Similar to Red Kelly, his status had a big impact on the success and influence following his decision. Even though he was looked up to, he still received backlash and hate about the face mask but nonetheless, most goalies began wearing face masks soon after him.

Furthermore, another study was done by the British Medical Journal in which they questioned the effect mouth guards have and if they are beneficial/reduce the possibility of a concussion, specifically with youth ice hockey players. They also wanted to compare older and newer helmets to evaluate the changes of structure and if they really are much different or better than previous helmets. Tests were done with real youth ice hockey players whose ages ranged from 11-18 as they either wore an old helmet, a new helmet, or a mouth guard. Overtime, statistics were gathered of the amount of concussions that were occurring in the youth players. The study eventually revealed that youth players wearing a mouth guard had a 28% less concussion rate as opposed to players that were wearing mouth guards. But, for helmets, there was no evidence to support either being better. While it can be assumed that both the old and new helmets have the same effectiveness and level of protection, BMJ stated in their conclusion that more studies need to be done in order to confirm or deny this possibility. All in all, ice hockey helmets have come a long way through the years in which they have evolved and evidence may allude to the possibility of further reconstruction to improve safety equipment in the future.

Lastly, another rule has been implemented into the NHL as of February 2023 which requires all players to wear helmets during warmups. Numerous professional ice hockey players including Ryan O’Reilly shared their mixed emotions but understanding towards the further safety precautions that are being pushed.