> >"When a player's uniform has blood on it (whether it is the player's own blood
> >or someone else's blood), the official must stop the game at the earliest
> >possible time and make the player leave the game to have the uniform evaluated
> >by medical personnel. If the team's medical personnel determine that blood has
> >saturated the uniform, the player must change the bloodied part of the
> >uniform. If saturation has not occurred, the player may continue to wear the
> >uniform.
>
>   This is understandable but it's most likely going to make the game
> much much longer.
 
As a student Athletic Trainer, I take an avid interest in these type of
rules. In my experience, I've found that saturation will never occur.
Unless somebody is felled by a hail of gunfire on the ice, you'll never
get a fully 'saturated' sweater. This means that the Athletic Trainer can
just cover up the blood with some white tape and send them back out. This
takes about 20 sec's, not a whole hell of a lot of time. Any blood borne
pathogens are inactivated soon after the blood hits the air, so
contamination shouldn't be a worry of other players.
 
Just a little input on the medical side of hockey...
 
--
 
Matthew Sullivan     Northeastern U.  |
                                      |  Some of it's magic, and some of
[log in to unmask]    |  it's tragic, but I had a good
[log in to unmask]             |  life all the way.
[log in to unmask]                   |                 --Jimmy Buffett
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