A blog piece about the NHL putting all their eggs in one

[Jason Harris 31]

That may be true, but even non-check would still be a good showcase of skills and may excite young kids to take up the game.

[MDE3 0]

Having watched RHI, and having had a son play a few years of MLRH and then XIHL during it's only season, I can assure you that the floor is not the cause of injuries in full contact inline hockey (those leagues were all full contact)

In fact I would venture a guess that there are as many injuries in "non contact" inline hockey as in "full contact"..based on watching multiple seasons of both at the so called "Pro" levels.

Most of the injuries I saw in both full contact leagues were from taking shots (puck) or from falling awkwardly..not from contact. The only injury I can recall that stopped a player for a period of the balance of a season, was Mattie Denton trying to take someone out along the boards, and when he missed his check he hit the boards awkardly resulting in his injury. Saw one concussion from a clean hit, and one broken nose also from a clean shoulder hit...however that was the total of contact related injuries I recall seeing in three full seasons watching maybe 50 games(inluding "pre-season" and play-offs) of full contact inline.

That said let it be added, that probably less than half the players wore shoulder pads in the full contact leagues, and quite a few didn't even wear girdles...just gloves, helmets(most without shields or visors), pants, shins, and jerseys.....not exactly a gang of "p******" there.

The full contact leagues "allowed fighting" however there were far more "beat downs" than real fights, in a couple of the seasons. I saw too many hired "hit men" taking out guys who were not fighters, rather than fights between equal opponents...This to me was a big negative for the sport. Only a very few of the fights were actually between individuals who had beefs with each other.