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After about 100 minutes of hockey tonight, 3 periods and 6 over times, my son buried a slap shot to win the Championship for his beer league team. Fun stuff!

HECC and CSA, to the best of my knowledge, have never published any of the actual numbers from their testing. When combined with the influence of the manufacturers on the board, that leaves some people with a lot of questions. Secrecy creates doubt, it's that simple. I hope it's ok for me to disclose this, as it was pretty common knowledge in the industry a couple years ago. Easton had a helmet in the works that was based on the RIddell football helmet that got a five star rating, but it never made it to market. It was large and heavy, so I had concerns about increased neck and whiplash type injuries with it. I think having an independent agency doing the testing is a good thing and I think publishing the methodology and results is a great thing. I also think the video segment was borderline criminal in the way that it is trying to scare parents.

Until they find a way to get foam between the brain and the skull, the manufacturers have their work cut out for themselves.

Nobody at CSA or HECC is against outside testing being done. It is the way it is being done and how it benefits the consumer. In another thread I was accused of having an agenda against a company. Now here I am sticking up for that company because I KNOW what is being done to improve the safety and safe testing practices of CSA and HECC. and I know from the U of Ottawa how the VT tests do not correlate with the way the game is being played. I helped TSN and the brain injury awareness people in Toronto produce the first helmet fitting video 6 years ago so to say I am anti fitting or anti testing is just ridiculous. As for the "money trail" I simply look at the work I and many others in the industry and meetings and conferences on it all done for FREE! While he is making thousands to say all the work that has been done is BS? Last time I checked Bauer or Reebok has not cut me a check for 1 cent! Yet I have spent almost 10 years working on the issue. If VT and the Helmet Testing group is so amazing.....Instead of testing to prove things are bad why haven't they showed or shared the data with the companies to help improve the products? Seems to me VT has the agenda not me. I am on the consumers and manufacturers side on this one.

We sold 2 Krown helmets today, both to parents who stopped by without their kids, who directly cited this report as the reason for changing helmets. Both times I tried to explain how proper fit works, and how one helmet is not the most protective for everyone. Both times, the parents shrugged off my recommendations and left with their new shiny helmet. This is the major issue with the study, everyone is so quick to term one helmet a champion, and people refuse to listen to the guys working in stores, that have been fitting helmets for many years. At this point, the damage is already done. No matter the methods (flawed or not) of the study, the media has ran with it and people are now in a shock and awe stage. Fucking frustrating that people dont want to listen anymore

dont correct my horrible understanding of science......

Here is the other thing. The research has yet to go through peer review but the gist is still making headlines. Regardless of how the research fares after scrutiny the "damage" has been done.

Yes you are 100% correct. Hence that is why you are seeing less "we have a better fit" to the safety features themselves and more you should buy the best fit. The headform issue in my mind is very key. When your doing rotational impact testing there is no way a hockey helmet will do well at the present state. But the way VT wants to fix it is to make the helmet the size and style of a football helmet. Well that is were you run into neck issues. Helmets can not be bigger for neck strength issues. And again the companies have been working on this for years now. We have worked on headforms that would possibly work better for rotational testing and tons more. PS all the above are my own opinions and do are not the thoughts of the CSA in anyway shape or form. Some general information may have been learned by CSA but are public record.

Every collision sport is a game of risk with your brain. The level of play, amateur, high school, collegiate, or professional does not make a difference in the opportunity to do damage to your brain. 8 year old Chris playing tackle football runs the same risk of concussion as 24 year old Chris in the NFL. The "other 99.999%" will always be at the same level of risk as Chris Borland was. The helmet improvements are just that, improvements. That is the purpose of all research design and development. However, these improvements have not and will not eliminate risk of concussions with helmets, football or hockey. The numbers of enrollment for youth football have already been in decline as parents are becoming more acutely aware of the risk of concussions. Obviously, parents are not impressed by the improvements to helmets. Football is a dangerous game for your entire body. I've been on the frontlines of these battles about helmets and safety as a sports retailer for over 35 years. Where once parents gave little or no thought to these sports and the risks, now they are looking at everything more clearly. Some, more than others, as I still hear the pushback on how expensive a helmet is. Seriously, how much is your head worth?

My money is on the guy inside the industry. OTG28. Now there are how many 5 star helmets in football? And how has that effected concussion risk reduction in football? Not enough for Chris Borland to think playing more than one year in the NFL was worth any amount of money for his future.

I think we are all waiting on more details on the testing protocol. The results are very interesting. In Warrior's case, you have two helmets with the same shell but the difference is the absence of VN foam on the LTE, and thus got a lower rating. That all being said, if VT outlines what would constitute a 5 star helmet and convey that back to the manufacturers, then this is a good thing. The more research, the better. Although, this is going to be a rough time for retailers - we've already had inquiries on the 360 from customers in the past 3 hours.

A source had told me a few months back they were looking to do this. Good to see all mfgrs on board. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/23/sports/hockey/for-safety-hockey-helmets-going-under-microscope.html?ref=sports&_r=0

Lol. Here's what Borland retweeted "Just an FYI: A 250 lb football player, running 15 mph, has more kinetic energy than a bullet fired from an AK-47 rifle.”

Also a lack of physical training in young hockey players could be a root problem here... When you're 15/16 and you're legs are getting strong but perhaps not the rest of you, you won't be able to take impacts safely. I had a friend who wouldn't lift weight with me while training for CIS football, he went into an exhibition game and got levelled and was out half the season.

At a first glance it would appear that any amount of $$ Bauer dedicates to marketing has payed off 10 fold. I feel the rotational impact rhetoric that is being abused in hockey marketing has a lot to do with how visible Crosbys concussion (NECK PROBLEMS) was a few years ago. There are angles where the neck is unsafe and no helmet or amount of tech will ever be able to reduce that damage. The unfortunate reality about impact sports is damage comes with them. The videos and science will allow us a lot more then a page of blank stars and what looks like the grand marketing machine at play. I for one will be looking at a Bauer 5100 :D

I don't think it's the study itself, but rather the way it's being reported. Personally I don't like the "Study Find Hockey Helmets Unsafe" headline that espn has on their front page... if you read the release on the VT website, it isn't so black and white. I agree with your comment about helmet fit should be the first concern. Hopefully within a few years, there will be numerous options rated 4/5 star so that LHS can continue focusing on optimal fit. But again, going back to manufacturers, I've never seen one detail what headshapes their helmet fits best... they always tout the adjustibility as a selling point, so shouldn't the helmet perform optimally even when a single headform is used? Just as an example, here's what Bauer says (from their website) about their Reakt 100 helmet: "A better fit means better protection. Spring-loaded side pads utilize Curv® composite and PORON® XRD™ foam creating the new YourFIT custom adjustment system." The manufacturers themselves are already guilty of implying and marketing helmets as one size fits all/most, which I know from stories on here creates a constant struggle for LHS employees... convincing customers to prioritize fit over marketing.

well this academic study is putting fear in people to possibly buy a product that does not fit and could cause further injuries. They use one singular headform for all studies. last time I checked everyone's head is different!!

I for one, will be reserving judgement until that is published. In the meantime, I'm hoping that this study will push manufacturers to make safer helmets, while retailers should continue to champion that best fit = best protection.

All about the money? Pretty heavy accusations you're lobbing at this prof... anything to back it up? Most profs don't get into research for the money. The results are being published in a peer reviewed journal... along with any academic talks they give, they're going to face plenty of scrutiny from other scientists and engineers. As for the money trail, who has been profiting the most? The manufacturers. Every year new models come out from the m11 to the reakt 100... all making new claims about break throughs in concussion reductions. Question, how many manufacturers have opened up their testing procedures and results to full peer review so that their claims can be independently retested? Every year the price of the top helmets go up despite little data to substantiate their protection improvements. Manufacturers are far from innocent with regards to profiting from the concussion scare. The positive I see is that in the manufacturers rush to research and market concussion reducing designs and materials, they just might have some solid tech to build from. Hopefully this rating system forces them to put a bit more of their money into the R&D and a little less on marketing unsubstantiated claims.

so now the hockey industry can choose to embrace these findings and strive towards better, safer helmets, or they can choose to poke holes in these findings and thus make no progress towards anything but reinforcing 'the way things have always been done'. i don't think anyone will argue a helmet that fits is safer than a helmet that doesn't fit - apples to apples, so why can't we have a helmet that fits AND a helmet that is safe.

For those that are interested... an honest comparison between custom VH vs. Mako skates (I tried not turning this into a skate review, but more of a "Which is better when compared to each other" spiel) Fit: VH over Mako mainly due to the simple fact that it's custom to the foot. I found that the VH boot fits like a sock, while the Mako kind of feels like a soft pillow stuffed in a hard shell (basically eliminating negative spaces with extra padded material). Out of the box, the Mako felt really nice, but I'm having some issues with my right inside ankle bone. It seems like the interior padding has some wavy type pattern that creates an odd rubbing underneath the lateral malleolus. I'm going to try to roll/punch it out and hopefully that'll alleviate the rubbing. Meanwhile, left boot feels great... no problems. I have to admit, the Mako has a pretty damn good fit for a non-custom, retail skate. Construction & Appearance: Mako over the VH. The Mako feels stiffer than VH skates. The Mako looks very clean and sleek--clean sewing lines and very little if any sign of glued down parts--with some nice touches, like the fact that they covered the toe with some plastic, versus my bare VH carbon toeboxes. It also has a really, really, nice felt tongue that has some good lace-bite protection and I like that Easton offered coated eyelets to prevent rusting. The biggest downside to the Mako skate is the insole, which I felt lacked basic comfort, support, and insulation (the breathability was great, but perhaps too good... my feet froze!). When I first got my VHs, I was admittedly bummed out that it looked a little sloppy. From glue streaks across the boot, to unglued down clarino bits, to some shaky sewing lines... I think it just lacked the finesse for a final product. The biggest downside to the VH skate is the Velcro'd tongue. While it's a great idea from VH that offers tons of adjustability and customization (if you don't like the tongue, then you can swap it out, or if you want to dry the boot, take the tongues out...etc), I don't think it was the best design choice for long term usage -- once the Velcro on the tongue is shot, it won't stick nor stay in position. Also, similar the Mako, the VH insole lacks support and comfort. It seems like both boots would benefit from custom insoles. Feel/Weight: VH over Easton. Even though the Mako weighs 890 grams versus VH's 930 grams, I think it all comes down to the feel of the holder. The CXN holder feels like a brick underneath my boot: heavy and very sluggish. I think if I swapped out the CXN for the TUUK LS2/Edge holder, the Mako would win hands down. Pitch: Equal. Neither VH nor the Mako offered a more aggressive pitch out of the box. In fact, in both skates, I had to skip the top eyelet to achieve a maximum forward stride. When I switched from my VH's to Mako's, they pretty much felt similar, so I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to switch between the two. Mobility: Mako over the VH by a slim margin. The way the boot has the asymmetrical design really does allow you to take tight turns without feeling the boot edge digging into your ankle. Also, the super flexible tendon guard allows a much fuller range of motion by not hindering anterior to posterior movement. Intangibles: VH over Mako. What it all comes down is... how does it feel on your feet for hours. I could wear my VH's for hours before I'd feel some pain. Whereas after an hour in Makos, my feet froze, the bottom of my feet felt sore, I got some rubbing on my right big toe and left pinky toe, and my right ankle really, really hurt after about 2 hours! The Makos need more fine tuning, but unfortunately, no matter how many tweaks... I think they just won't fit/feel quite as good as a pair custom VH's . Either way, the Mako is a great boot that I'd highly recommend to those who want a non-custom, form-fitting boot that, in my opinion, beats anything put out by Bauer, CCM/RBK, and Graf.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; helmets prevent fractures, not concussions.

If what I have heard is correct, the P29 is a Bauer P92 clone.

Curious to see the push back from the helmet companies saying the testing was flawed or will they accept and adapt to it going forward.

That's what I've been telling my staff. All things being equal, the head shape must fit the helmet. That is key. You saw the same thought with the M11. You will see a surge in demand for Krown helmets, I'm sure.

Latest additions to the glove stable:

Last game of the travel season for the boys, everyone had a 'stache to put on, if they wanted. Sort of a tradition(did it last year as well). My daughter had one on for a few minutes, but said it distracted her and pulled it. All three coaches had them on as well....

I don't even know where to begin with your post...it's so ridiculous; your anger (why are you even mad?) is so misplaced it's mind-boggling.

BACK & CRUSHING!

Ever since switching to the skates people have been commenting on how much faster I am or how much stronger of a skater I am. I attribute this to the skates because I can finally get every drop of performance out of my skate

received the pants from the contest over a week ago. I have worn them twice, they are amazingly comfortable and light! So far the only thing alkali that I haven't loved is the Max stick I purchased, but that is mainly based on shaft dimensions and shape (little boxy for my hands). I let a guy borrow it at a drop in, and he had two goals with it, and everyone else I know with one has loved the sticks. Guess ill be checkin out the girdle next =) As far as quality goes, Ive now beat up my team skates fairly well, and no issues with wheels or axles. I have taken the wheels off a few times to clean in and around the hub/bearings, and they have gone together and stay together fairly well. I didn't use Loctite as I was out of it at the time, so they require a slight turn every few skates to tighten, but other than that its been smooth sailing. These things are super comfortable on my feet, cant wait to check out the max's I have waiting to be baked and used!

I didn't know you were able to get yourself so close to an NHL bench....