men listen to hayley wickenheiser challenge. from the athletic:
A little more than a year ago, T.J. Oshie read a story about a young boy who was cut in the neck by a skate blade during a youth hockey game. Almost instinctively, Oshie reached for his phone and contacted his partners at Warroad, the hockey apparel company he helped found six years ago. What started as a way to create undershirts that werenāt itchy and irritating had developed into a safety-conscious business that helped develop new, cut-resistant fabrics to protect playersā wrists and Achilles tendons.
Now, Oshie wanted turtlenecks to protect the most dangerously exposed part of a hockey playerās body ā their neck, and the carotid artery within. Sure enough, Warroad came up with a sleek turtleneck with its ātiloā design, which includes cut-resistant panels built into the fabric.
It worked. And Oshie still didnāt wear them.
In fact, he doesnāt believe a single player in the NHL wears anything of the sort. None of the bulky neck guards that are mandatory in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Ontario Hockey League (but not the Western Hockey League). None of the Kevlar-style fabric turtlenecks that are becoming more readily available all the time, from companies such as Warroad, AYCANE, and Cut-Tex Pro.
Players have their reasons. Oshie said NHL rinks are āhotterā than ever, with guys sweating through several undershirts a game, and the thought of wearing a turtleneck in such a warm environment is unappealing. Players are superstitious, wearing the same shoulder pads they used in juniors, using the same brand of skate theyāve worn since they were kids, using the same tape job and knob style theyāve used forever. And, well, turtlenecks and neck guards donāt look cool. Heck, only Wayne Gretzky and Tomas Plekanec ever really pulled off the look.
āItās not a cool look having neck guards on,ā Oshie said. āFor whatever reason, itās just not something thatās sleek and looks great.ā
But then Oshie learned about Adam Johnsonās death on Saturday night. Johnson, a former player for the Pittsburgh Penguins, was cut in the neck by a skate blade during a game in England and died, shaking the hockey community to its core. Players and coaches from around the league expressed their heartbreak over the tragedy. But Oshie did more than that.
He ordered five Tilo turtlenecks from his company. One for him and four for some of his teammates to try. Theyāll arrive on Monday. And heās going to try playing in them. Because Johnsonās death did more than devastate the hockey world. It opened the hockey worldās eyes to an inherent ā and possibly preventable ā life-threatening risk that comes with playing the game.
āI just wish these things never had to be made, and injuries like this would never happen, because itās so sad,ā Oshie said on his way to the Capitalsā game against the Sharks on Sunday evening. āIt hits me pretty hard, just thinking about my kids. I could take one to the neck tonight. And for them to not have a father ā itās just so sad and it makes me think twice about protecting myself and my neck out there. Whether it looks cool or not.ā
ā¦Jason Dickinsonās heart went out to Johnsonās family on Sunday, but he also spared a thought for the player whose skate caught Johnson in the neck.
āI feel for (him) as well,ā Dickinson said. āHeās on the other end of that and heās going to have some stuff to work through, because thatās heavy stuff. I guarantee he feels guilty right now, even though itās a freak accident.ā
Thatās a word you hear a lot when it comes to skate-cut injuries, whether itās Pat Maroonās skate slicing through Evander Kaneās wrist last season or Matt Cookeās skate tearing Erik Karlssonās Achilles tendon 10 years ago. A āfreakā accident. A āfreakā play. But is it? After all, this is a game played by people moving at exceptional speeds with exceptional force wearing exceptionally dangerous weapons on their feet. If anything, itās shocking that skate cuts donāt happen more often.
Hayley Wickenheiser, a Team Canada legend, assistant general manager for the Toronto Maple Leafs and emergency physician, bristled at the depiction of such incidents as āfreakā occurrences.
āI donāt think this is a freak thing, I think it happens quite a lot,ā she said. āItās just the injuries are superficial, or the players are lucky. This isnāt something that doesnāt happen; it happens a lot in hockey. Sticks come up, skates come up, and the neck is very susceptible. So whatever we can do to make (neck protection) more mainstream and just part of the equipment, the better for the future of the game. It just makes sense to me.ā
ā¦Dickinson said the NHL provided a video at the beginning of the season highlighting the benefits of cut-resistant sleeves to protect the wrists and Achilles tendons, and those have become quite popular around the league. But neck protection remains ignored by everyone other than goaltenders.
Johnsonās death surely opened some eyes around the hockey world to the risk of skate cuts to the neck, and it appeared that several Providence Bruins, in the AHL, wore neck guards on Sunday. Thatās a start.
But why does it have to be a years-long process? Why canāt it happen sooner? Why do players have to be grandfathered in to avoid any mandates whenever a new equipment mandate is instituted?
āBecause theyāre stubborn,ā said one NHL equipment manager, who was granted anonymity so he could speak freely. āItās a monkey-see, monkey-do league. All it would take is one guy to wear it. Then two days to get used to it.
Wickenheiser has a similarly simple solution to getting players past all their superstitions and habits, to get them to embrace what seems like such an obvious solution to a terrifying problem.
āYou just put one on,ā she said. āI wore one for 20 years with the national team, it didnāt interfere with anything I did. ā¦ Itās just like anything else, when one player does it, everyone sees it and it becomes normal. I canāt even remember hockey without visors now, and I grew up watching the world of hockey without visors. I canāt even imagine not playing with a visor with how fast the game is.ā
As an emergency physician and all-time hockey great, Wickenheiser is perhaps uniquely qualified to weigh in on the subject. She knows how well-stocked NHL arenas are in terms of medical care. She also knows itās not nearly enough if, God forbid, a situation similar to what happened to Johnson happens in an NHL game. The thought has frequently crossed her mind that if there were an incident at a practice, she might be the most qualified person in the rink that day. She runs the scenarios in her mind constantly, and āit truly horrifies me.ā
āYou know how little time and resources you have to save a life in that moment,ā she said. āThe deck is entirely stacked against you as a physician. In the NHL buildings, there would be qualified physicians, thereās (emergency medical services) in the building. You have every resource at your fingertips. But what you donāt have is time. You need a surgeon and you need blood and you need time, and thereās none of those things in that moment. Itās just such a devastating injury. It freaks me out, for sure.ā
If Johnsonās tragic and shocking death doesnāt prove to be enough to open eyes and open minds, then what will?
āThere are options out there, and itās not a bad idea at all,ā Dickinson said. āItās about awareness. And events like (Saturday) night, events like Kaneās, like Karlssonās ā those really make guys think and get them worried. Itās definitely something Iād consider now. I mean, who cares what it looks like? Looking lame and living is a lot better than the opposite.ā
stormborns
discoholicmusic
izzy806
2087
vaporwave
