> >"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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go U.Maine Black Bear Hockey!