Opinion: While helmets can protect against skull fractures and other serious injuries, they are powerless to stop concussions.
But there was something else that stood out, or should have. While the entire Soviet team wore helmets, only three Canadian players did so. With increasing attention to concussions and other brain injuries in hockey, it seems hard to believe that the NHL only mandated helmet wearing in 1979, and then only for new players.
There is, however, one more rule change that could prevent upwards of half of all concussions in youth hockey: Prohibit hitting — bodychecking — in leagues for all kids under 18 years old. According to a recent study of high school boys’ collision sports, the centre found that hockey produced 15.8 concussions per 100 participants per year —This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.Hockey Canada did, in fact, ban contact for players under 13 years old and, according to the centre, the banAlthough contact is permitted for older youth, it’s still possible to measure the impact of bodychecking.