Why is there a ledge on the boards?

[Cellee]

View attachment 186233

Check this rink out played a provincial south final there two years ago 10x10 posts about 2-3 inches away from the boards and all the way around the rink no glass fans stand all along there chirping, what an atmosphere, unfortnately one of our players received a career ending concussion getting smashed into one of those posts. Can’t remember who the guy who hit him name was. Clean hit played a game for the coyotes 7-8 years ago. This is in craik Saskatchewan


Edit: his name was Matt Watkins

Still don’t know how this rink is safety approved for contact hockey in this day n age haha. I believe in Craik the local folk call these memorial pillars lol

That is crazy!

 

[Quarter]

What if we give the refs jet packs?

Only if the players get rocket skates as well.

 

[tiburon12]

Nah I'm with you OP- the number of stingers I've taken to the forearms from those things.. if ya could make it all plexiglass that'd be cool. The ref thing is pretty minor, but I assume it'd be a lot of re-engineering for a relatively minor problem.

I'd like to see the kickplate go higher though, on a somewhat related note. Maybe that'd do it- have the the yellow kickplate up to 1.5 feet or so, then the glass. Gives the refs a place to get out of the way, allows more work off the boards, and puts the ledge at a less dangerous level.

Wait, how do your forearms get dinged up? Don't you wear elbow pads?

 

[The Red Line]

Its what I always used to lean on in practice when coach wasn't looking.

 

[Seanaconda]

Wait, how do your forearms get dinged up? Don't you wear elbow pads?

If you're wearing any old elbow pads (I think some of the newer ones go up the arm ) / not giant dmen gloves you normally have lots of forearm unprotected .

 

[tiburon12]

If you're wearing any old elbow pads (I think some of the newer ones go up the arm ) / not giant dmen gloves you normally have lots of forearm unprotected .

Yea but who is wearing old, un-protective gear in a contact league? and if not a contact league, why would your forearms getting bruised along the ledge?

Doesn't add up to me

 

[FrozenJagrt]

Finally something I'm an expert in!

It isn't to hold the glass in. It's for leverage. It gives refs and players something to hold on to in order to avoid falling when along the boards, battling for pucks and stuff like that. The NHL considered going without the ledge for a seemless board, but found there were more injuries caused from players falling over when in battles.

Athletica does provide the soft cap product, which is basically a rubber cap rail, 2 inches wide (3.5 in players section). As for the glass, they also offer a glass flex system, where the glass channels actually move back and forth (notice how much more the glass moves now compared to 20 years ago?). Speaking of, "glass" as a mysnomer. The NHL doesn't use glass anymore. Most rinks don't. Acrylic or polycarb are the way to go.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

There really is no way to secure the glass in any reliable way without that ledge, I mean they could slant it, along the same lines as they did with the glass corners around the benches, but downward to ease the hard corner a bit.

This isn't true

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Wait, how do your forearms get dinged up? Don't you wear elbow pads?

Wrist areas- I got into ice hockey later but had played roller for awhile.. never knew how to properly take a check and ended up with some bad board experiences.

 

[TrufleShufle]

This isn't true

Yes it is.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

Yes it is.

No, it isn't. I've done it before. I do this for a living. You're not going to win this argument.

 

[TrufleShufle]

No, it isn't. I've done it before. I do this for a living. You're not going to win this argument.

Yes it is, yes I will.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

Yes it is, yes I will.

Look up seamless dasher boards from Riley Manufacturing.

 

[Stealth JD]

To hold the glass secure without a ledge you would need to do 1 of a few things:

1. Use a puck style screw system to sandwich the glass in place since there is no inner extrusion to hold it. This causes issues with no being smooth.

2. Use a thicker glass and have inset/flush mounted fasteners. This adds cost and lowers strength.

I've lost 3 teeth from the ledge, but with the current board/glass set up it's the best we have. A full glass panel would fix this, but I bet there would be far more breakage.

I was thinking about removing the boards and replacing them with 12-foot tall plexiglass, but those panes would need to be about 8-inches thick i'd think, and require arena modifications that would be really cumbersome. Maybe they could redesign the glass itself, in the shape of a number 'four' (with the 'leg' of the four dropping into the boards to secure it), so that the space that currently exists is replaced with glass which is now flush to the boards, but still secured within them.

 

[TrufleShufle]

Look up seamless dasher boards from Riley Manufacturing.

Typically when someone’s only argument is “google it” I don’t, but I was interested and did. I couldn’t find anything with out a ledge, maybe the “SoftCap” but that doesn’t seem to be ledgeless.

Even if they did have something with out a ledge, there would be no way it could stand up to the abuse of the NHL.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

Typically when someone’s only argument is “google it” I don’t, but I was interested and did. I couldn’t find anything with out a ledge, maybe the “SoftCap” but that doesn’t seem to be ledgeless.

Even if they did have something with out a ledge, there would be no way it could stand up to the abuse of the NHL.

SoftCap is an Athletica product. We offer seamless designs too, but don't do it at the NHL level for the aforementioned safety reasons. To have a truly seamless product in which the glass is flush, all you need is posts behind the glass with a post face in front of the glass. Or even a glass clip. Our Infinity system does this. It's not difficult at all. But for the NHL level, definitely not recommended because it's like hitting a brick wall.

 

[Hivemind]

It's 100% possible to make a ledgeless dasherboard system that can stand up to NHL abuse. Some implementations may require more tools for assembly/disassembly/glass replacement than the existing system. There's quite a few options to do it (rear mounted stanchions, countersunk screws, single vertical panes, etc)

 

[ThePhoenixx]

Yea but who is wearing old, un-protective gear in a contact league? and if not a contact league, why would your forearms getting bruised along the ledge?

Doesn't add up to me

Not everyone has money. Some really hate to spend it. etc.

 

[TrufleShufle]

SoftCap is an Athletica product. We offer seamless designs too, but don't do it at the NHL level for the aforementioned safety reasons. To have a truly seamless product in which the glass is flush, all you need is posts behind the glass with a post face in front of the glass. Or even a glass clip. Our Infinity system does this. It's not difficult at all. But for the NHL level, definitely not recommended because it's like hitting a brick wall.

Well that was my main point, there really isn’t a way to do it reliably for the NHL. So it a round about way... we agree??

 

[BoltSTH]

I thought it was to hold the refs beer glasses, for use during TV timeouts.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

Well that was my main point, there really isn’t a way to do it reliably for the NHL. So it a round about way... we agree??

What I'm saying is its perfectly reliable, just less safe

 

[Thread The Needle]

Ive had a long day -35 in a lift 30 feet in the air for 10 hours. I may be tired and over thought this thread and just wanted to complain about something because my boss won’t let me fire my idiot helper. My apologies hf

Well, you should've just opened with this. It's way more entertaining of a post