I myself have never played hockey outside of some pick-up street and roller
hockey games (I keep promising myself I will learn how to ice skate before I
goto college so I can play intramural or pickup games or something), so
these are coming more from a fan and an observer's point of view than
anything else.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Injuries are a part of life.
Whether it's a paper cut by a paper-pusher, or a torn acl by an athlete,
you'll never eliminate injuries. Cover athletes up with as much excessive
padding as you want, and they'll still find ways to injure themselves (or
others). To even try to eliminate all injuries would be naive.
On the question of no shields vs half shields vs full shields, if I played
ice hockey I could probably tell you instantly which I'd prefer. But since I
haven't, I'm going on what I've heard on this list and elsewhere. Obviously
having no shields will never happen in college, and I personally can't
imagine playing without something protecting my eyes from a flying rubber
disc. I'm honestly surprised more NHLers don't goto a half-shield. And
honestly, I've heard more good about going to half shields than keeping full
ones.
And no offense to Vicki, but her arguments are more detrimental for
full-shields than for them. I might be going out on a limb, but I would say
most people on this list are smarter than the average joe blow and can
sniff-out bad cause-and-effect models. When the biggest advocater of
full-shields uses bad cause-and-effect models and facts with no relevance,
then that tends to leave bad impressions whether the cause is good or not.
So what if the Capitals lost X # of man games. How many were due to injuries
above the head? As stated by another poster, since there's more concussions
now than before, does that mean we should go back to no helmets? Faulty
cause and effect models can be used to prove almost anything. Since the # of
injuries have increased at the same time as the ozone hole has gotten
bigger, the ozone hole must be causing hte extra injuries, right? Uh, maybe not.
And maybe, just maybe, the players like the physical play of the sport and
don't want to be protected 100%. I know alot of players say they don't mind
taking hits from other players as long as they're clean. And talking to
several hockey players at school, some of them love fighting because they
can take out frustrations in a condoned manner. And I've heard more than a
few stories about their stories where they've lost a fight, been nailed by a
huge check, etc, point out where they got cut or bruised, and laughed about
it while explaining it too me.
The question here is one of 2 things, I think. It's either to decide whether
full shields are overly or excessively protective; or to decide whether they
are more than marginally better than half-shields.
In case 1, does it hinder visibility and risk players to worse injuries -
spinal especially due to decreased visibility and unnatural angles players
use to view pucks below them - while protecting the relatively insignificant
portion of the jaw(hrm, broken jaw, or paralyzed - which is worse).
Case 2, does the full shield prevent significantly more concussions and jaw
injuries than a half shield, and is that off-set by arm, spinal, and other
injuries caused by cheapshots that wouldn't be there if they could be
retaliated in a different manner(punches to the face one of them) or
prevented by players feeling more vulnerable.
As far as fighting. I can tell you this. I've seen worse injuries in almost
any other way than a hockey fight. I've seen a pitcher snap his arm in 2 on
a normal pitch, I've seen athletes in every sport tear ligaments and pull
muscles just runnign or skating around. I've seen a pro wrestler die in a
tragic accident (well, heard enough about it to picture it, i wasn't there
so i didn't actually see it), I've seen people paralyzed. Yet I've yet to
see anything like that happen in a hockey fight, which leaves someone a
little bloody at the most.
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Ben Flickinger
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E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
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(Stanley Cup Champion) Detroit Red Wings Fan for Life
Proud resident of Bugaha(Omaha)-Home of the 1st Jim Rome World Tour Stop.
To all the CCHA teams, UNO welcomes you to the Bullpen. Now get ready to lose.
Everyone can have a bad century or two. Cubbies all the way in 1999.
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QOTW: "Always two there are, a master and an apprentice." (Yoda, Star Wars:
Episode 1 - A Phantom Menace)
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to
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