Given all the attention paid to hits to the head in the past year, and the subsequent rule changes put in place for this season, it’s not surprising that equipment makers are bringing out new products they believe will protect hockey players’ heads. Cascade, traditionally a maker of lacrosse helmets, has partnered with Mark Messier on the M11 helmet, which is touted as being solid protection against concussions and head injuries. To read more about the technology behind the helmets, click here.
On the Kings, Willie Mitchell and Kevin Westgarth are the only two players who have tried the helmets during training camp, and for somewhat obvious reasons. Mitchell has suffered three concussions in his NHL career and Westgarth is the designated “enforcer.” I talked to both players today about the helmets, and reviews were somewhat mixed…
WESTGARTH: “I think it was kind of providential for me. I just came in last year, and that was the first year they had them. They had them back there (in the trainers’ room) and they said, `Do you want to try one out?’ I tried it and I loved it. From everything I hear, they’re great for concussions, and it’s nice because they tighten around your head, so it’s a good, solid fit, real comfortable. I’ve been in three fights so far and it hasn’t come off yet. Sometimes I like to get the hair out there, but I guess I’ll take the punches off my helmet as opposed to off my head. … You don’t really notice it, minute to minute, but you do feel that it tightens the whole head, as opposed to front to back. So definitely it feels real snug and it feels good. You don’t really notice it, and that’s the idea.”
Westgarth, a product of Princeton University, almost certainly just became the first professional athlete to use the word “providential” in a quote. Here are Mitchell’s thoughts on the helmet…
MITCHELL: “I did a little bit of research on them. That’s kind of been their frontier, so to speak. They’ve done shock tests and stuff like that, and it’s the next level for helmets. It’s tough, because everyone has different beliefs on it. There’s no perfect science for it. It’s not peer-reviewed yet either. They put out their science and say, `This is best for shock and concussions and all that.’ Then Bauer puts out theirs and Reebok puts out theirs, and it’s all within points of each other. They’ve done their own, independent testing on it but no one has peer-reviewed it, so how do you gauge? I’m not sure on that. I’ve been trying it. It’s been so-so, so far. I think the No. 1 thing for a helmet, just personally after going through a concussion like I did, is having the right fit. If the helmet doesn’t fit on your head right, it’s not going to do you any good. You can have the highest test-rated helmet, by their standards, on your head, and if it doesn’t fit right, it’s not going to do you any good. You need something that fits your head right and stays on. If it fits your head right, it will absorb that blow the best. So I’m kind of going around with it a bit, giving it a shot, and we’ll see where it goes. I don’t know if I’m going to wear it for the season yet. I’m just trying it out.”
would give anything to hear Westy talk smack on the ice!!
would give anything to have Mitchell protect his melon on the ice!!
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Wow…cant wait to see more quotes from Westy. I wonder if he asked Parros if it was providential for them to fight on Wednesday night?
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luc20rules Reply:
September 30th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
@SoftDumpnChase, I believe Parros was a Ivy Leaguer too. A Physics arguement must of started the fist fight.
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Shakes Reply:
October 1st, 2010 at 5:18 am
@luc20rules,
both are from Princeton…
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I’m all for expanding the vocabulary in an anti-tyson fashion. You go Westie!
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If Westgarth and Parros are authentic Princeton gentlemen then perhaps they need to fight in Providence to be truly Providential.
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number 6 Reply:
September 30th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
@Crown Royal,
…………………
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I saw the headline for the article and I thought surely there was going to be a Heidi Androl mention.
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Any news Rich on live streaming for the game tonight?
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Rich Hammond Reply:
September 30th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
There’s no game tonight…
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FKA PakiFro Reply:
September 30th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
@Rich Hammond,
How about for Frozen Fury?
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Rich Hammond Reply:
September 30th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
I’m told there’s no video board at the arena, thus no video feed. Radio only.
Shakes Reply:
October 1st, 2010 at 5:19 am
@Rich Hammond,
Can we have a game tonight Right?
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Shakes Reply:
October 1st, 2010 at 5:19 am
Right=Rich (Freudian slip)
I wonder if they can get it specially made to fit a specific player.
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If you saw the Parros/Westie fight the other night, you would have noticed that at the end they each said ‘ok, done? yes? ok break’ (paraphrase of course) and simply let go and went on their merry way in true enforcer fashion.
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rontheking Reply:
September 30th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
@Steve Jensen,
No, Westgarth asked Parros if that was “providential enough for you?” and Parros concurred that it was, by his consideration, “providential indeed.”
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luc20rules Reply:
September 30th, 2010 at 8:32 pm
@Steve Jensen, Unlike the Schenn – Sibisa fight where Schenn would still be beating him if the refs didn’t step in.
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Forget Westgarth’s use of providential… I never I thought I’d hear a hockey player discuss “peer-reviewed” science. Mitchell ain’t no dummy, either.
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number 6 Reply:
September 30th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
@GregDM,
My guess is, that’s why he’s smart on the ice……….
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BallPointHammer Reply:
October 1st, 2010 at 12:21 pm
@GregDM, I was thinking the same thing.
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There was a CBC blog discussion a few months ago about a family who had filed a law suit against a helmet maker because their young son had a massive brain injury during a hockey game.
Someone had a good post, I thought.
He said something to the effect that a helmet can only help you against a blow from the outside; a concussion happens when the brain moves and gets damaged from within the skull.
In other words, the helmet has nothing to do with it. The force of the blow is what is most important.
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jamesonafterawin Reply:
September 30th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
@Doc. Mark 1968, This is true. Willie just wear the damn thing, get it fitted.
Now that we have these helmets, self-trepanation for eveybody!
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GregDM Reply:
September 30th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
@Doc. Mark 1968,
That is a good point. Car manufacturers realized that you don’t save lives by making cars that are completely rigid. The rigidty means that if you hit something you accelerate to a stop more quickly, creating greater g-forces on your body (like an internal injury created as the outside of your body is halted instantly by a seat belt while your spleen is still trying to employ Newton’s first law). That’s why modern cars have crumple zones–to lessen that acceleration.
So, that’s why I don’t understand why my newer Bauer helmet uses a hard foam under the plastic. It seems like it would keep my skull from cracking, but if my head hits the ice, the helmet doesn’t have any room to slow the rate of acceleration (though I think the idea is that in a severe impact the hard foam cracks and has some give). It seems like the only design that would really work for concussions is a really soft (on the inside at least), big, bubble of a helmet. The problem with that is that the bigger helmet is a larger target and you’re more likely to hit your head (although with less impact I suppose). Plus, you’d have the other issues you get with helmets in the NFL.
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BakoCAkingsCondorsGuy Reply:
September 30th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
@GregDM,
As a physician, I agree with your analysis.
Can you imagine a helmet with ‘crumple zones’? It would have to look more like a German WWII helmet with ear holes, and it would have to be disposable after hard contact. The issue here is cost; when cost analysis proves that high-priced talent is worth the cost, then the one-crash disposable helmets will be constructed.
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luc20rules Reply:
September 30th, 2010 at 8:35 pm
@BakoCAkingsCondorsGuy, When will Hockey Equipment tech get caught up with other industries. Clearly what we need are airbags that deploy from the shoulder pads.
4/10/82 Reply:
September 30th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
@GregDM,
Not to be a nitpicker, but I think you mean “deceleration.”
And, by the way, I have a cascade helmet. an early hockey design i got after yet another concussion. it’s a little bit heavy. i assume the new version remedies that problem.
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GregDM Reply:
September 30th, 2010 at 11:04 pm
@4/10/82,
It’s funny, because I used acceleration instead of deceleration just so someone wouldn’t nitpick! Deceleration is more of an informal term, but slowing down or speeding up are both accelerations. Deceleration is really just something that is relative to a viewer (e.g. if you were watching a car hit its brakes while standing on the sidewalk it appears to decelerate, but if you were in another car traveling along side it when it hit its brakes, it actually appears to accelerate backwards).
Have you taken any big hits to that helmet? If so, does it seem to feel any different?
luc20rules Reply:
September 30th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
@GregDM, Speaking of NFL helmets they have foam and air chambers that you pump up to get a tight fit.
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Has to be better than the loose jofas and coopers i was wearing.Tight is as good an idea as any, but anything that fits Messiers head cant fit most people? Just a joke messier fans.
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Players have skates that get custom molded, why not start custom molding players helmets? That way it will “be the right fit”.
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Shakes Reply:
October 1st, 2010 at 5:26 am
@KingFanMGM,
The problem with that is Jeremy Roenick will unretire, sign a contract, and then claim for the first 60 games of the season that he’s not playing well because he’s not getting the right helmet fit.
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“Westgarth, a product of Princeton University, almost certainly just became the first professional athlete to use the word “providential” in a quote.”
Rich-that’s one one of the funniest things you have ever written.
Westgarth is awesome.
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I think the NHLPA and NHL should be doing their own independent testing on equipment. Then they can provide the players with an impartial view of the equipment.
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