From Randy May's posting:
 
><<I can't honestly say I pay attention to the players mouths during a game
>so I don't really know whether this rule is generally adhered to or not.
>>>
>
>You don't have to pay much attention...when the mouthpiece is out it dangles
>several inches from the facemask...twisting and turning with every player
>movement. But then maybe back East it is more adhered to.
 
 
I'll pay more attention this year but it is my impression that most ECAC
players do use their mouthguard.  I also believe that most of them have the
fitted internal type that are generally made in a dental office as opposed
to the "boil & bite" type with a tether to the face mask like my son has
used in youth hockey.  My family dentist (whose son and daughter played
youth hockey) offered to make one but he told me that while it would be
more comfortable it did not offer any more protection.  Since my son was
not bothered by the "boil & bite" we stayed with the cheaper and harder to
loose alternative.  The internal ones are not really obvious unless a
player is holding it half in and half out of his mouth on the bench or
before a face off. I have also seen them knocked out by a collision on a
few rare occasions and have seen players retrieve them from the ice
surface.  At one game last year I noted that at least some Cornell "The Big
Red" players used red mouthguards and that the opponents used a mouthguards
in their team colors (I think it was Yale with blue).
 
Taking a couple of posts from the WCHA at face value it would seem that
mouthguard use is much more common in the ECAC and this may be the reason
for the NCAA point of emphasis.  The mouthguard is an important piece of
safety equipment for the prevention of concussions which are all too common
in hockey.
 
I guess we are all getting pretty bored waiting for the start of the hockey
season.
 
--Steve
 
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