Helmet use

[steveat]

I remember when they made the rule that all players need to where a helmet (in the NHL), but my question has to do with the minors and even houseleague teams.

Every player started somewhere, but when did they start the rule for kids to start wearing helmets? How much earlier was it compare to the NHL?

 

[Normand Lacombe]

Just a guess, maybe the late 60’s?

 

[Big Phil]

Just for an example, Denis Potvin in his first NHL game didn't have the right colour helmet or something like that and he had to play the first game, or period or something, without a helmet. This is 1973 and he's a 20 year old rookie. Potvin was no wimp we know this, but it just goes to show you that this wasn't something he was used to.

I always think that the Bill Masterton incident in 1968 changed a lot of minds. It didn't change a lot in the NHL because even well into the 1970s most didn't wear a helmet. Even by 1979 it was still 50/50. But I am wondering if that was the time junior hockey players had to wear one.

Here is a good barometer. Bobby Orr did not wear a helmet at all in his career, not even in junior hockey in Oshawa. He started in the NHL in 1966-'67. Potvin was 5 years older and wore a helmet in the same league in junior and wore one his whole career. Plus, look at the timeline of when new players in the NHL generally stopped going helmetless. Clarke in 1969, no helmet. Perreault never wore one, Lafleur never wore one. Middleton in 1974 started and never wore one. You won't find a lot of players that started after 1974 that didn't have a helmet. So that's more or less the timeline.

 

[Marotte Marauder]

I remember Secord wearing a helmet when he first came up in 1978 but do not recall him ever wearing on on the Hawks? Doug Wilson started in 77-78, no lid.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Potvin was no wimp we know this

I don't understand the inference you're trying to have us make.

 

[Big Phil]

I don't understand the inference you're trying to have us make.

He was scared in 1973 in his first game as a rookie because he didn't wear a helmet. I think we can agree Potvin was pretty tough, so in other words by the time he broke into the NHL players his age were wearing helmets in junior so they were used to it.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

He was scared in 1973 in his first game as a rookie because he didn't wear a helmet. I think we can agree Potvin was pretty tough, so in other words by the time he broke into the NHL players his age were wearing helmets in junior so they were used to it.

Gotcha - I didn't see that he was scared in your initial post. Thanks.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Just for an example, Denis Potvin in his first NHL game didn't have the right colour helmet or something like that and he had to play the first game, or period or something, without a helmet. This is 1973 and he's a 20 year old rookie. Potvin was no wimp we know this, but it just goes to show you that this wasn't something he was used to.

I always think that the Bill Masterton incident in 1968 changed a lot of minds. It didn't change a lot in the NHL because even well into the 1970s most didn't wear a helmet. Even by 1979 it was still 50/50. But I am wondering if that was the time junior hockey players had to wear one.

Here is a good barometer. Bobby Orr did not wear a helmet at all in his career, not even in junior hockey in Oshawa. He started in the NHL in 1966-'67. Potvin was 5 years older and wore a helmet in the same league in junior and wore one his whole career. Plus, look at the timeline of when new players in the NHL generally stopped going helmetless. Clarke in 1969, no helmet. Perreault never wore one, Lafleur never wore one. Middleton in 1974 started and never wore one. You won't find a lot of players that started after 1974 that didn't have a helmet. So that's more or less the timeline.

Lafleur did wear an helmet as far as I know, before 1975. His prime coincided with when he took it off.

 

[Big Phil]

Lafleur did wear an helmet as far as I know, before 1975. His prime coincided with when he took it off.

That is correct, for the first three years in the NHL he wore it. I should have mentioned this. Technically he didn't start without a helmet but he turfed it after three years and ironically when he took it off is when his numbers flourished.

 

[scott clam]

Mikita was one of the first guys to wear a helmet, back in the '60s.

Lanny McDonald is famous for wearing the same helmet his whole career, all the way back to junior

 

[Tarantula]

We had old style helmets in house league during the 73/74 season. I was in Atom. The next year everyone had to have a new style approved helmet and full visor or cage. 74/75 was the season this change occurred in Ontario at least.

 

[yukoner88]

Was there any stigma placed on the first few who did wear helmets? Were they ridiculed at all or was the general attitude kinda laissez-faire?

 

[adsfan]

I remember when they made the rule that all players need to where a helmet (in the NHL), but my question has to do with the minors and even houseleague teams.

Every player started somewhere, but when did they start the rule for kids to start wearing helmets? How much earlier was it compare to the NHL?

I was a Dayton Gems fan as a kid. They were the first minor league team in the US to require their players to wear helmets. That was around 1971 or 1972, years before the NHL started making new players wear helmets, which was June 1, 1979.

 

[adsfan]

Was there any stigma placed on the first few who did wear helmets? Were they ridiculed at all or was the general attitude kinda laissez-faire?

If you had a head injury, nobody said anything. I think that some people thought it was strange, the same as when masks for goalies started to be worn. I had some friends in school that played Mites or Peewee hockey. All the kids wore helmets.

Sid Garant of the Dayton Gems got a broken cheek bone. I think he was hit with a puck. He wore a football like helmet for a few months until it healed. His last season in Dayton was 1971-72, according to Hockeydb.com

 

[ICM1970]

Believe it was in about 1962 or 1963 at the latest that the CAHA began making kids wear helmets at all levels below Junior A. IIRC, it wasn't until about 1968 that they became mandatory at the Junior A level. When Bill Masterton died in January 1968, a good number of NHL players were concerned about if the league were to make helmets mandatory, the high sticking and related types of offences would increase as they noticed this at the kids' level even by that time.

 

[ICM1970]

"I always think that the Bill Masterton incident in 1968 changed a lot of minds. It didn't change a lot in the NHL because even well into the 1970s most didn't wear a helmet. Even by 1979 it was still 50/50. But I am wondering if that was the time junior hockey players had to wear one."

The Masterton incident might have gotten the Canadian Junior A leagues to bring them in, with the idea that they were going to be that commonplace at the NHL level within a few years (as Stafford Smythe stated when he began making the Junior A Marlies wear them at that time). By the later 1970s, more and more players had elected to keep wearing them after Junior A or Europe or US college and Rick Martin's nasty injury (from an awkward fall from being checked by the Rangers' Dave Farrish) in February 1978 began to have some veteran players wear helmets and made the idea of legally phasing in helmets that more politically correct.

 

[ICM1970]

As a small point of interest, I recall reading that in about 1975, CAHA Referee in Chief Hugh McLean (a former NHL referee) began making helmets mandatory for CAHA referees and linesmen. Believe that this followed a teenage linesman who died after being struck in the head with a puck during a minor hockey game in the Toronto area. Even though there may have been the intent of making the game safer for on ice officials with a rule like that, I've always been curious if one could do a study showing that once helmets were made mandatory for CAHA referees and linesmen, that's when the number of incidents involving players physically assaulting or abusing on ice officials really began to escalate to what goes on nowadays (very unfortunately).

 

[LeBlondeDemon10]

I think its was made mandatory in the NHL around 1980 so all new players had to wear one. Those that didn't and were already in the league still had a choice.

 

[ICM1970]

I think its was made mandatory in the NHL around 1980 so all new players had to wear one. Those that didn't and were already in the league still had a choice.

The NHL began legally grandfathering them in in 1979, with those who signed professional contracts before June 1 1979 were permitted to continue to go bareheaded after signing a waiver. Interesting to note that players like Rod Langway and Mike Milbury and even Craig MacTavish started their careers wearing helmets but then took advantage of the grandfathering rule to start playing without them after the law was passed

 

[DJ Man]

When I began watching hockey games, maybe 1961, Charlie Burns of the Bruins was the only player who wore a helmet (as I recall). I learned that he was required to do so, having suffered a near-fatal head injury years before.

 

[snuffelapagus]

Funny that Potvin and McDonald are mentioned, as two of my early helmet memories revolve around them:

I vaguely recall McDonald very early in his rookie season, possibly in his very first game. It was an HNIC game against the Sabres, if memory serves. McDonald ended up on the receiving end of a rough check along the boards, landing on his un-helmeted head. I recall he suffered a concussion and received stitches as a result. He donned the helmet ensuingly and never played another game without it. Can anyone confirm or refute this memory as @scott clam earlier in this thread claims McDonald always wore his famous domed bucket?

Another early, yet more concrete memory is Dennis Potvin falling to the ice after taking a howling Jocelyn Guevremont slap shot off the noggin during a game at the Pacific Coliseum. I recall the hush that fell over the crowd while Potvin remained down and the applause/relief when he woozily returned to his skates. Canucks' play-by-play man aptly opined that helmets should be made mandatory as they likely just saved the budding star's career, if not his life.

 

[scott clam]

Funny that Potvin and McDonald are mentioned, as two of my early helmet memories revolve around them:

I vaguely recall McDonald very early in his rookie season, possibly in his very first game. It was an HNIC game against the Sabres, if memory serves. McDonald ended up on the receiving end of a rough check along the boards, landing on his un-helmeted head. I recall he suffered a concussion and received stitches as a result. He donned the helmet ensuingly and never played another game without it. Can anyone confirm or refute this memory as @scott clam earlier in this thread claims McDonald always wore his famous domed bucket?

Another early, yet more concrete memory is Dennis Potvin falling to the ice after taking a howling Jocelyn Guevremont slap shot off the noggin during a game at the Pacific Coliseum. I recall the hush that fell over the crowd while Potvin remained down and the applause/relief when he woozily returned to his skates. Canucks' play-by-play man aptly opined that helmets should be made mandatory as they likely just saved the budding star's career, if not his life.

I just remember Lanny duct taping his old helmet for the Leafs-Wings alumni game 6 years ago. He said he wore it every game for good luck, or something like that.

 

[snuffelapagus]

I just remember Lanny duct taping his old helmet for the Leafs-Wings alumni game 6 years ago. He said he wore it every game for good luck, or something like that.

Nice! Maybe he forgot his first NHL game due to the concussion...

 

[steveat]

These comments are mostly for NHL and Juniors..what about kids..I mean 5-16 year old kids?

I figure in the very early days of hockey, I don't even think they wore them.

Also would like to add something else. As my father told me, it was Bobby Hull who started to curve his blade..How much did the curved blade affect the puck rising to levels above the waist, which then turned into much higher chances of being bonked in the head?

In the straight blade era..I think, this reduced the chances to being hit with the puck

 

[Megaterio Llamas]

*fun fact - Alexander Ragulin was 'MacTavish' of Russia. Russians started wearing helmets in the early sixties, Ragulin was the last holdout for Red Army.