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Pretty sure at this point they have zero interest in making the study better or relevant or useful. They’re just doing it and churning out results that people then haphazardly use.

Yeah, it got off topic. It happens. But one thing that has been pointed out is that most of the neck protection on the market today is actually lacking in genuine protection. Wearing a cut proof mock neck isn't going to prevent you from getting a crushed trachea if you take a slapshot to the throat. This is mostly due to manufacturers not focusing on these products, they usually go to where the money is; reactive not proactive. I would imagine we will see lots of new companies "pop up" too. If it become a standard globally at all levels we will likely see some new and updated products released. Hopefully these will provide better protection and also be significantly more comfortable.

FT Ghost is basically the FT7 Pro, changes from the FT6 Pro to FT7 Pro are mostly in the blade. Softened the blade, made some minor adjustments to the kick point, other minor changes too. If you like the FT6 Pro but wanted something a little more tuned, the FT Ghost is a good option. Proto is basically a updated version of the Nexus 2N Pro XL (extra light) version. They got rid of the 5 sided shaft, sticking with a more traditional Nexus shape. Updated the carbon, carbon layering, stiffened the blade, added boron, and a few other changes. Lots of updates and modifications to an already good stick. I personally prefer a softer blade, so the FT Ghost is more desirable to me. The Proto was very good though, but the stiff blade was not my personal favorite. If the Proto could be made with a slightly softer blade it would have been a very difficult time for me to decide between the two of forced.

My son shot the Proto on the ice last week. Said it actually does feel like cheating, just a crazy release. Felt like it might last about two games tops. Ha!

They mention how important fit is, and yet still go by the larger helmet if the head form fits inside a range of 2 sizes. They also don't try on multiple helmets sizes to get the best fit either. VT could easily make things better by showing the helmet fitting process for each model they use.

You're right in that helmets can't protect against whiplash. But that's not to say there isn't substantial impact to the head where helmets can play a part in minimizing the damage, both to the skull and its contents. No helmet is concussion proof. But they are not created equal in how much they dissipate the impact to the head either. Re: the helmet has to fit for it to work discussion, the VT STAR lab actually wrote a whole article talking about the importance of fit when assessing helmet performance in the lab and how that relates to real life: https://www.helmet.beam.vt.edu/publications.html#56 As usual, the story is more nuanced than the popular discussion. Also as usual, it's still not perfect. It never is.

especially after the fabled Iron Lotus incident.