Showing posts with label New York Times. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York Times. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

New York Times, Spartan Hockey Helmets Going Under Microscope

Casque de hockey
Casque de hockey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This is an interesting read about hockey helmets.
Jeff Z. Klein, New York TimesHockey helmets may be on the verge of a radical makeover, as scientists and engineers at Virginia Tech prepare a rating system that measures each brand’s and model’s ability to reduce the risk of concussion.

“After football, hockey is the sport that produces the highest rate of concussion,” said Dr. Stefan M. Duma, a Virginia Tech professor and the head of the university’s biomedical engineering department. “We want to produce a mechanism to try and reduce that risk of concussion.”

That mechanism is a five-point rating scale called the STAR system, which the Virginia Tech football team began applying to its helmets in 2011. While there is still disagreement on whether concussions can be reduced by improving helmets, the football rating system quickly became influential, leading manufacturers to substantially increase internal padding. Sales for five-star football helmets have soared, and those for low-rated helmets plunged.
As a former football player, I have always often wondered about difference between football helmets and hockey helmets. It's obvious that hockey helmets are a lot thinner and lighter than football helmets. Both sports (hockey and football) are extremely physical and both sports have a lot of high impact collisions. It will be interesting to see how the various hockey helmets are ranked.
Virginia Tech engineers cut a hockey helmet and a five-star football helmet in half to show the contrast. The hockey helmet contained two thin layers of relatively rigid padding, but the football helmet had three thick layers of soft padding. The greater cushioning inside the football helmet is designed to slow the acceleration of the brain after a strong impact, thus lessening the risk of concussion.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Anti-fighting Cabal to Ban Fighting in US Junior Hockey

Shirt badge/Association crest
Shirt badge/Association crest (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The anti-fighting cabal is pretty strong in hockey across the USA. I am concerned. This is going to bring the level of violence up in amateur hockey. People always talk about fighting in hockey but they never address the dangerous hits like hits from behind, head shots, boarding’s and the blatant charges. These are the hits were the concussions are coming from. These are the hits that I am concerned about more than a hockey fight.
Jeff Z. Klein, New York Times -- Junior A hockey, for 16- to 20-year-olds, is the last remaining level of the game under USA Hockey’s jurisdiction that still tolerates fighting. The push to outlaw fighting is being spurred by a recent spate of serious injuries resulting from fights and concern over the prospect of lawsuits.

“We need to take a firm stand to preserve our sport, prevent catastrophic injury and avoid financial repercussions,” said Dr. Michael J. Stuart, the chief medical officer for USA Hockey, who has been a leader in the effort to ban fighting.

The new rule would punish all fighters with automatic ejection from the game, and instigators with an automatic two-game suspension. It would also give referees more latitude in making decisions to eject players.

The measure will be presented at the organization’s winter meetings Jan. 16-19 in Orlando, Fla. It could be voted on then or at USA Hockey’s annual congress in June. The rule could take effect as early as next season.


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Friday, September 13, 2013

UND SID Breaks down UND's TV Situation


For those that haven't seen this, @UNDSID explains UND's TV situation on Sioux Sports. This could answer some questions that you might have. 

I'm all for engaging in discussion on here if we can leave the name-calling (different post) and conspiracy theories out of it. The person I talked to was not affiliated with Midco, nor were they trying to "sell" UND's "media people" on anything. I merely asked in casual conversation, out of my own curiosity, about FTA and its prevalence in this day and age.

Believe me, the last thing I want to do is rehash the exact same discussion every month about the television situation. I would guess most of you feel the same way. No, it is not ideal in its current incarnation, but how many collegiate television situations are? It is an extremely fluid landscape but we are committed to making the best of it. Not just now, but going forward.

There are some on here (and elsewhere) who continue to presume that we as an athletics department -- the paid professionals whose job it is to operate in the best interests of our University and our student-athletes -- don't value maximum exposure. That we apparently are content to have fewer games on national television. That we aren't concerned with losing hockey viewers who previously watched us on FCS. This is utterly preposterous.

Over the past six years under Brian Faison:
§  A relationship has been established with FOX College Sports (available in more than 50 million homes) that has provided live national broadcasts of not just UND men's hockey, but also UND women's hockey, football, men's basketball, women's basketball and volleyball.
§  A partnership has been formed with Midco Sports Network that not only provides us with a regional broadcast stronghold, but ever-important financial stability. Further, as we begin just year two of that 5-year partnership, Midco has already addressed some of the biggest macro (high definition) and micro (penalty clock) issues that many fans have had with our broadcasts over the years.
§  Midco has also committed to produce and broadcast North Dakota Hockey with Dave Hakstol, the first men's hockey-specific show we've had in at least 20 years, if ever (my time here dates only to the mid-90s so I don't know if there was a Gino Gasparini show). This show, along with UND Sports Extra and UND Insider Weekly, provide us with no fewer than three weekly television shows.
§  Significant resources (financial and manpower) have been committed to widening and improving our online coverage. This ranges from live events (webcasts that include all men's hockey, women's hockey, football, men's basketball, women's basketball and volleyball home games, as well as select soccer, baseball and softball games) to original programming (Through These Doors, Opening Drive, etc.). This has also included the continued development of mobile apps, now and going forward.
§  The state and regional radio network has been significantly expanded.
§  If the exposure discussion goes beyond the traditional realm, our student-athletes have been featured prominently by Sports Illustrated, TSN, CBC, New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, ESPN the Magazine, Los Angeles Times and more. Truthfully, many of these opportunities simply fall into our lap. But quite often, we must aggressively pitch and pursue them. That is our job.

Yes, fewer men's hockey home games will be available on national TV this year. Unfortunately, that was the cost of business associated with forming a first-rate men's hockey conference. Do we as a department find the loss of those games ideal? Of course not, but that doesn't mean that we will stop trying to eventually reclaim that full national footprint. We are hopeful it will prove to be a shining example of one step backward to take two steps forward. As with anything, these things take time.

This athletics department is certainly never beyond reproach, and it is the fans who serve as our checks and balances. That is a good thing.

But I would hope that the bullet points above serve as evidence that this department is anything but ignorant when it comes to matters of exposure.
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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Islanders won't pressure Nelson

This is the worst time of the year when fans of college hockey teams have to worry if they are going lose their favorite college hockey players. According to Chris Botta, who is a writer for the New York Times and the New York Islanders had this to say about Fighting Sioux forward Brock Nelson on his twitter feed

This past week, DU lost  blue chippers Jason Zucker and Drew Shore in a matter of couple of days. So you never know what will happen and fans always seem to worry up until the puck drops in October.
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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Jason Gregoire: Snow Has Been “First-class” College draft picks weighing all of their options

The Islanders' first logo, used from 1972-95.Image via WikipediaChriss Botta an Islanders blogger has an interesting blog post about former Fighting Sioux Forward Jason Gregoire and former UNH defenseman Blake Kessel. It would appear that some hockey prospects aren't too keen on playing for the New York Islanders. My question to Jason Gregoire is why didn't you just stay and play another year for the Fighting Sioux hockey team?
Chris Botta; NYI Point Blank ---- For Jason Gregoire and Blake Kessel, it’s nothing personal with the Islanders. Four years after being drafted by the Islanders, three years into their college hockey careers, Gregoire and Kessel appear to be simply utilizing their Collective Bargaining Agreement rights to consider offers from the other 29 teams in the NHL. They hope you’d understand.

“The ideal for me would be to sign with the Islanders,” Gregoire told Point Blank in a phone conversation last night. “They are the team that drafted me and, from the beginning, I’ve had a great relationship with the team. I was at three prospect camps, got to know the area and the staff and come through the ranks with the guys. I have nothing but great things to say about the organization and I’m happy that no doors are being closed.”

It’s not difficult to read between the lines. Gregoire left North Dakota last week, Kessel withdrew from New Hampshire earlier this week. Unable to come to terms with the Islanders on Entry Level contracts to this point, Gregoire is taking advantage of a clause in the CBA that allows college players to become free agents four years after they were drafted. Kessel is said to be considering the same. Both Gregoire and Kessel played a year in the United States Hockey League before starting college.
Here is a link to a story that was also in the New York Times Slap Shot blog that was written by Chris Botta as well. [Slap Shot Blog]
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