Vickie Price as asked to forward this to the list:
 
 
recent STUDIES, (not opinions/newspaper quotes, etc), have shown that there
is no statistical evidence to support the assertion that the face mask is
correlated to the head/c-spine injury rate in ice hockey.
 
there is, howerver, substantial evidence that face protection measurably
reduces the rate of facial injury in ice hockey.
 
90% of the head and c-spine injuries in ice hockey result from
checking-from-behind into the boards. this is documented in papers in the
hockey medicine literature in refereed journals, written by medical
investigators.
 
recent (sports law) court rulings have reaffirmed that league
administrators and officials hold the responsibility for the safety of the
participants in regard to understanding, officiating and enforcing game
rules and activity in regard to player safety.
 
so it is incumbant on league administrators, on-ice officials, and coaches
to teach safe hockey skills/techniques, call/penalize and enforce rules
infractions, and uphold the rules of play with the safety of the
participants in mind.
 
this issue has been debated for almost 20 years now. the research to this
point, (and more needs to be done and is being done), indicates that:
 
the rules regarding:
 
        face masks
        checking from behind
        high sticking
        cross-checking
        mouthguards
 
        and others are ALREADY IN THE RULE BOOK.
 
a receptive mindset to player safety must be maintained and the current
rules must be consistently enforced in october AND MARCH.
 
i thank you for your time, all for now. PLEASE pass this post on to
hockey-l.
 
bob broxterman, ms, atc/r
assistant athletic trainer
university of minnesota
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.