Something needs to be done. What? How can these be prevented?
Enough is enough. Even Mike Richards is sidelined with a concussion now. Sidney Crosby. OK. Hockey fans are convinced, there is a problem.....NOW WHAT? My favorite players of the past 20 years, top 5, all taken down by concussions:
Eric Lindros - forced to retire
Keith Primeau - forced to retire
Ian Lapierriere - forced to retire
Chris Pronger?
Claude Giroux?
Current list of players out with concussion (Epidemic):
Marc Savard
Daniel Paille
Nathan Gerbe
Mark Olver
Peter Mueller
Ryan Wilson
Radek Martinek
Marcel Goc
Guillaume Latendresse
Josh Harding
Nino Niederreiter
Marc Staal
Michael Sauer
Ian Lapierriere
Chris Pronger
Claude Giroux
Brayden Schenn
Kurt Sauer
Nick Peterson
Zdynek Michalek
Sidney Crosby
Kris Letang
Robert Bortuzzo
Andy McDonald
Martin St. Louis
Cody Hodgson
Jay Beagle
Mike Richards
Jeff Skinner
Joni Pitkanen
Milan Michalek
Last edited by phillyfanatic: 12-14-2011 at 02:52 PM.
Reason: Adding to the list
Something needs to be done. What? How can these be prevented?
Enough is enough. Even Mike Richards is sidelined with a concussion now. Sidney Crosby. OK. Hockey fans are convinced, there is a problem.....NOW WHAT? My favorite players of the past 20 years, top 5, all taken down by concussions:
Eric Lindros - forced to retire
Keith Primeau - forced to retire
Ian Lapierriere - forced to retire
Chris Pronger?
Claude Giroux?
Current list of players out with concussion (Epidemic):
Marc Savard
Daniel Paille
Nathan Gerbe
Mark Olver
Peter Mueller
Ryan Wilson
Radek Martinek
Marcel Goc
Guillaume Latendresse
Josh Harding
Nino Niederreiter
Marc Staal
Michael Sauer
Ian Lapierriere
Chris Pronger
Claude Giroux
Brayden Schenn
Kurt Sauer
Nick Peterson
Zdynek Michalek
Sidney Crosby
Kris Letang
Robert Bortuzzo
Andy McDonald
Martin St. Louis
Cody Hodgson
Jay Beagle
Mike Richards
Not play hockey? There's really no way to prevents concussions in a sport like hockey. I think concussions are becoming a big deal now because players don't "battle through it" like they used to.
Make the ice softer. Pads on the boards. Play with a softer puck. Not allow players to skate fast. Eliminating fighting and checking. No sticks. Longer nap time. Less players on the ice at one time. More referees. Full cages. Skaters must wear goalie pads. Duller blades on skates.
I'd make the rink bigger--said this in another thread a few weeks ago. Owners won't do it because it cuts down on seating, but making the rinks bigger means more skating, less contact in general.
Make the ice softer. Pads on the boards. Play with a softer puck. Not allow players to skate fast. Eliminating fighting and checking. No sticks. Longer nap time. Less players on the ice at one time. More referees. Full cages. Skaters must wear goalie pads. Duller blades on skates.
Athletes are getting bigger, faster, stronger in ALL sports. Each sport ought to adjust by increasing the size of the playing surface at each level, with the largest surfaces being at the professional level. Everything gets changed with the time, why not the playing surfaces? There were no 6'5" 230 lbs speedsters in the 1950s NHL.
Precautions have already been made in the rules, punishments, and equipment for player safety. Time to bite the bullet and pay for expanding the rinks to allow players to better use their speed and size. Personally I think international-sized rinks will be fine.
I say we just use CGI technology and play games virtually. Contract with dreamworks. We can create holograms of all the greats or of existing players. They will operate out of a war room in Tampa and players will just play hockey virtually...kind of like pilots of drones. It would suck for us old timers but hey for the playstation generation they wouldn't miss a beat. I mean this is the future anyway...
1. Unnecessary roughness penalty. There are many things you can do with that, similar to football.
2. Re-design the hockey helmet to protect the players. EVERYONE is forced to wear full face protection
3. Play hockey 4 on 4 60 minutes a game. A penalty will result in 5 on 4 hockey, second penalty is 5 on 3. THis will increase the amount of ice and reduce the amount of bodies on the ice.
I'd make the rink bigger--said this in another thread a few weeks ago. Owners won't do it because it cuts down on seating, but making the rinks bigger means more skating, less contact in general.
I agree in concept and agree it will never happen. So why not change the game to 4 on 4 all 60 minutes (like overtime)? Same result.
Giroux's concussion is the prime example as to why the helmets are not helping.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pwood
Padding. Padding. Padding.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JVR21
Not play hockey? There's really no way to prevents concussions in a sport like hockey. I think concussions are becoming a big deal now because players don't "battle through it" like they used to.
I'm not sure how many of you guys actually play hockey, but Mark Messier recently teamed up with a company called Cascade to make a high quality, concussion-proof helmet. I like where his head's at (no pun intended) but from what I hear the helmet hasn't done a great job in preventing concussions. I'm no doctor, but from my understanding a concussion occurs from your brain hitting the inside of your skull, so any whiplash or hard impact can cause a concussion regardless of whats on the outside of your head.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chimrichalds18
I'd make the rink bigger--said this in another thread a few weeks ago. Owners won't do it because it cuts down on seating, but making the rinks bigger means more skating, less contact in general.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sobrien
Athletes are getting bigger, faster, stronger in ALL sports. Each sport ought to adjust by increasing the size of the playing surface at each level, with the largest surfaces being at the professional level. Everything gets changed with the time, why not the playing surfaces? There were no 6'5" 230 lbs speedsters in the 1950s NHL.
Precautions have already been made in the rules, punishments, and equipment for player safety. Time to bite the bullet and pay for expanding the rinks to allow players to better use their speed and size. Personally I think international-sized rinks will be fine.
You know what, this isnt a bad idea at all. International hockey is more exciting anyway.
I'd make the rink bigger--said this in another thread a few weeks ago. Owners won't do it because it cuts down on seating, but making the rinks bigger means more skating, less contact in general.
Wouldn't this allow players to gain more speed, and by extension, more force upon contact? Just a theory.
Make the ice softer. Pads on the boards. Play with a softer puck. Not allow players to skate fast. Eliminating fighting and checking. No sticks. Longer nap time. Less players on the ice at one time. More referees. Full cages. Skaters must wear goalie pads. Duller blades on skates.
Nerf pucks and sticks, preferably they squeak when hit. Not even child games are safe due to little pieces or hard plastic and I'm pretty sure Bryzgalov will get himself caught under the Mouse Trap cage.
I don't think anything can be done in hockey because even the weirdest things can result in concussions. To have avoided Giroux's concussion they would have to have not traded Richards (I'm not blaming Simmonds at all), which could have prevented both of their concussions or not since who knows what would have happened. That list of injured players would still be pretty long and also don't forget even a goalie like Mike Richter retired due to a concussion and goalies have way more padding and protection in their helmets.
1. Teach self-protection at the grass-roots level.
2. Introduce a safer, more effective helmet.
Those two the M11 project started by Messier and Cascade tried to accomplish. It never amounted to anything because it was basically ignored by the NHL. Ignoring something so important is stupid, and they're feeling the brunt of it now.
3. Softer shoulder and elbow pads. Keep everything else.
4. Pad the boards even if by a little bit. Almost all of these concussions happen along the boards. The rest are all open ice which should be helped by lesser shoulder and elbow pads.
Then the real controversial stuff.
5. Less obstruction penalties (holding/interference) and more roughing penalties.
6. Get rid of the trapezoid. Keep the game moving and flowing back and forth instead of moving east to west and north to south. We need it more like tennis than football. The more points the puck stops along the wall the more opportunities for head injuries to occur.
I'm not sure how many of you guys actually play hockey, but Mark Messier recently teamed up with a company called Cascade to make a high quality, concussion-proof helmet. I like where his head's at (no pun intended) but from what I hear the helmet hasn't done a great job in preventing concussions. I'm no doctor, but from my understanding a concussion occurs from your brain hitting the inside of your skull, so any whiplash or hard impact can cause a concussion regardless of whats on the outside of your head.
Just because this version didn't garner positive results doesn't mean it isn't the solution. It's worth a shot as much as anything else.
1. Teach self-protection at the grass-roots level.
2. Introduce a safer, more effective helmet.
Those two the M11 project started by Messier and Cascade tried to accomplish. It never amounted to anything because it was basically ignored by the NHL. Ignoring something so important is stupid, and they're feeling the brunt of it now.
Don't believe the hype of those. A guy on my team never had a concussion in his life, switched to the M11 to be extra safe, and sustained a concussion in his first game with the new bucket. There's only so much a helmet can do, and I find it hard to believe that there's something so special in those helmets that would prevent a significant amount of concussions compared to others.
I remember watching something about concussions in the NFL and one thing they said worked was this special mouthguard or something. I know that isn't a very helpful description but that seemed like a good plan. In reality, there is very little that can be done. Eliminating blind-side head shots is probably the best way, but other than that and equipment, there isn't much you can do. It is a fast paced physical game. It sucks when a player gets a concussion and has their career ruined, but its the nature of the game sometimes. Just like a guy could tear his ACL and never be able to play again.
I'm not sure how many of you guys actually play hockey, but Mark Messier recently teamed up with a company called Cascade to make a high quality, concussion-proof helmet. I like where his head's at (no pun intended) but from what I hear the helmet hasn't done a great job in preventing concussions. I'm no doctor, but from my understanding a concussion occurs from your brain hitting the inside of your skull, so any whiplash or hard impact can cause a concussion regardless of whats on the outside of your head.
A better helmet, with a properly worn chinstrap, can absorb a lot of the impact and reduce the chance of concussions. Of course, some people are still going to get concussions but they won't happen as frequently.
