Not being an overly sensitive "90's sort of guy",  I was surprised at
how powerfully CBS's piece on Travis Roy affected me.   I don't think that
there was a parent with kids in sports who saw that segment who kept a dry
eye.   I was no exception.
 
     A couple of hours after the evening news,  I started to reflect on what
I saw.   Not having access to a replay of the incident,  and having turned
on the news just then by accident anyway,  my memory may be fuzzy.   But it
seemed to me that the root cause of what happened lay in the glancing
contact Travis made with an opposing player 3 to 5 feet from the boards.
  In other words,  in "no-man's land",  the most dangerous part of the ice.
  Am I correct,  and if so,  what does that teach us?   It would be good if
coaches and other experts who have seen the tape in detail could supply an
analysis for this discussion list.   Just what are the lessons learned?
  There are quite a few of us on this list with kids in hockey,  and we'd
like to be able to offer them some advice beyond what Dave said about the
relative dangers of driving and playing at the rink (which I also agree
with,  btw).
 
     The second observation I'd like to make is that as an engineer,  I felt
somewhat appalled that we don't yet have equipment to protect the neck area
from this and other types of injuries.   The flex collars that you see
linemen and some fullbacks wear in football would be a point of departure if
one wanted to design something  --  would they not?   I've felt this way for
quite a long time after one of my own kids spent several minutes out cold on
the ice after taking a stick to the back of the neck in an incident that was
entirely accidental.   It seems to me that if there are any ideas on what
equipment to protect the neck should look like,  we should have a discussion
of that topic here.   Your thoughts folks???
 
     -- Dick Tuthill
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.