Bruins face the facts with facemasks – Boston Herald
Most people would probably prefer to keep their teeth attached and their faces unaltered — even hockey players — which raises the question: Why do hockey players continue to deal with facial injuries when there’s a way to prevent pucks, sticks and skates from causing harm?
The solution would be a full facemask.
On Friday in Pittsburgh, Sean Kuraly is donning the mask to prevent further harm to a broken nose he suffered in a fight in Ottawa. While in that case it’s tough to avoid an injury from a fist to the nose, there are other cases — like in the instance of David Backes being sliced by a skate, or Ryan Donato being hit at practice on Thursday — in which a facemask would appear to be a solution.
Why that hasn’t come to be at the NHL level can be attributed to the way the game is played at the pro level.
“It’s a different style game (from college),” Donato said. “Guys are more open to not headhunting as much. If everyone was wearing bubbles, everyone would have elbows flying around and sticks everywhere. I think there’s a certain respect to everyone with just the visor on.”
Most people would probably prefer to keep their teeth attached and their faces unaltered — even hockey players — which raises the question: Why do hockey players continue to deal with facial injuries when there’s a way to prevent pucks, sticks and skates from causing harm?
The solution would be a full facemask.
On Friday in Pittsburgh, Sean Kuraly is donning the mask to prevent further harm to a broken nose he suffered in a fight in Ottawa. While in that case it’s tough to avoid an injury from a fist to the nose, there are other cases — like in the instance of David Backes being sliced by a skate, or Ryan Donato being hit at practice on Thursday — in which a facemask would appear to be a solution.
Why that hasn’t come to be at the NHL level can be attributed to the way the game is played at the pro level.
“It’s a different style game (from college),” Donato said. “Guys are more open to not headhunting as much. If everyone was wearing bubbles, everyone would have elbows flying around and sticks everywhere. I think there’s a certain respect to everyone with just the visor on.”