Ice Hockey

by NewsCore via poconorecord.com via myfoxboston.com

WINTHROP, Mass. -- The parents of a high school girls' hockey team in Massachusetts were crying foul after a man supporting an opposing team shone a laser beam into their daughters' eyes while on the ice.

The offender, who officials later said was an estranged relative of one of the home Winthrop players, was ejected and barred from future sporting events after directing the green laser at Medway-Ashland players during the varsity matchup.

Medway-Ashland parents claim Winthrop's 3-1 comeback win Wednesday night was invalid because of the laser drama, myFOXboston reported Friday.

They said the light had been seen throughout the Division I state preliminary game, but became more prominent in the third period -- in which all four goals were scored, led by Medway-Ashland's opener.

Read more at myfoxboston.com

via boston.com

Boston University is forming a task force to study the "culture and climate'' of its men's hockey team after two players were arrested for allegedly assaulting female students this season, the university's president announced Thursday.

In a letter sent to students, trustees and employees, BU President Robert Brown said the charges in the two cases "understandably lead to questions about whether the hockey team's culture and climate have contributed in some way to the actions of the two individuals.''

"The University must address these questions and, if deficiencies are identified, make appropriate and necessary changes,'' Brown said.

Read more at boston.com

The Minnesota Hockey Association recently announced a new movement: "Jack's Pledge," named in honor of a recently paralyzed high school player. The pledge encourages players and coaches to play and teach hockey as a skill sport, with less emphasis on violent play.

Jack Jablonski is 16-year-old junior varsity hockey player at Benilde St. Margaret's in Minneapolis, Minn., who suffered two broken vertebra and a severed spinal cord and is paralyzed from the neck down after a check from behind sent him headfirst into the boards on Dec. 30. Jablonski had unsuccessful spinal surgery on Jan. 5, and the prognosis is that he will be confined to a wheelchair.

Read more at athleticmanagement.com

by David La Vaque, startribune.com

When veteran referee Jerry McLaughlin skated onto the ice Tuesday night at Thaler Sports Center in Mound, he knew the game would be unlike any he had ever experienced.

McLaughlin and his two officiating partners met before the game with Hutchinson and Mound-Westonka team captains for longer than usual, reminding them they would draw five-minute major penalties for checking from behind, boarding and head contact.

During the game, McLaughlin analyzed open-ice hits more thoroughly, in fractions of a second. He called one penalty for checking from behind, although not exactly the type of headfirst crash into the boards that hurt Jack Jablonski. Hutchinson scored two goals to tie the score, drawing gripes from a Mound-Westonka assistant coach that continued to the postgame handshake between the teams.

Read more at startribune.com

via cortland.edu

Not many 18-year-olds can raise charity money by selling the naming rights of their backyard hockey rink to a national restaurant chain.

Then again, first-year SUNY Cortland student Nicholas Penberthy isn't like many other college students.

While growing up in snowy East Amherst, N.Y., Penberthy played ice hockey on his backyard rink, developing a passion for the sport matched only by his desire to help others.

His family's house, situated at the end of a cul-de-sac in suburban Buffalo, became a winter hot spot for neighborhood friends because of its skating surface. So in 2009, Penberthy created the Backyard Classic, a tournament that has raised more than $10,000 for young hockey players from low-income families.

Read more at cortland.edu

By University of Rochester Medical Center

The brain scans of high school football and hockey players showed subtle injury -- even if they did not suffer a concussion - after taking routine hits to the head during the normal course of play, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study.

The research, reported  online in the journal Magnetic Resonance Imaging, is preliminary, involving a small sample of athletes, but nonetheless raises powerful questions about the consequences of the mildest head injury among youths with developing brains, said lead author Jeffrey Bazarian, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of Emergency Medicine at URMC with a special interest in sports concussions.

By Donnie Webb, The Post-Standard

Playing for the ice hockey team at Thomas Proctor High School in Utica was always something of a cool dream for Matt Gozy. He started skating when he was 2 and now, going into his junior year of high school, the right winger hoped to make an impact. Instead, Gozy was hit with the hardest check of his life. The Raiders' hockey team has been terminated.

With New York reducing its education spending by $1.3 billion and public school districts left to deal with painful cuts in budgets, high school and junior high sports programs are feeling the trickle-down squeeze.

Proctor is among the hardest-hit schools in Central New York from the budget fallout. In addition to slashing the hockey program, Proctor also eliminated fall cheerleading, indoor track and all of its modified or junior high athletic programs.

By Chuck Gormley,
Courier Post

When Gloucester Catholic's John Gaudreau was taken by the Calgary Flames in the fourth round of the NHL entry draft on Saturday, many area players, coaches and parents quietly debated whether his road to the big time is the one best traveled.

Gaudreau, a talented 18-year-old center from Carneys Points, left Gloucester Catholic after his junior year and played for the Dubuque (Iowa) Fighting Saints of the United States Hockey League, where he was named the 2011 Rookie of the Year.

Last month, five South Jersey hockey players -- Matthew Gaudreau, Kyle Criscuolo (Southampton), Ryan Badger (Hainesport), Kyle Smith (Lumberton) and Chris Tracy (Marlton) -- were drafted by teams in the USHL and another, Roman Ammirato, was selected by a team in the North American Hockey League.

By ivillage.com

MONDAY, June 20 (HealthDay News) -- The overall risk of injury and concussion among young ice hockey players is not affected by the age at which they're first allowed to bodycheck, according to a new study.

Canadian researchers analyzed data from youth hockey leagues in Alberta, which allowsbodychecking at the Pee Wee level (ages 11 to 12), and in Quebec, which introduces bodychecking at the Bantam level (ages 13 to 14).

The study included 995 players from 68 Bantam teams in Alberta with two years of bodychecking experience at the Pee Wee level, and 976 players from 62 Bantam teams in Quebec with no bodychecking experience.

By Lindsay Kramer, The Post Standard

In 1995, head coach Don Kirnan took the Syracuse Stars pee wees across the border to the Quebec Tournament, the world's showcase event for hockey players under 14.

When the Stars played in the United States, USA Hockey rules at the time permitted body checking at that level. The Quebec Tournament, though, did not.

No matter. The Stars left their body shots at home and used their immense talent -- current NHLer Tim Connolly was on that team -- to earn a monumental title at the tournament.

The point, in Kirnan's view, was that at that age skills need to be highlighted. The physical stuff is tangential. That's why when USA Hockey last weekend voted to ban body checking in games at the pee wee level (11- and 12-year olds), Kirnan stood in a long line of supporters. Starting in 2011-12, body checking will be permitted from the bantam level (13-14) on up.

By Colneth Smiley JR, Athletic Businesses

It's no longer just crunching checks or slap shots to the face that hockey players need to worry about.

Concussions are benching skaters at an alarming rate as teams from the college to pro ranks struggle with a rash of head injuries usually seen in boxers and football players.

Bruins winger Nathan Horton is the latest victim of a blow to the brain. A blindside check sent him to the hospital and knocked him out of the Stanley Cup finals.

But, it's now a fact of hockey life.

'We know that with concussions, athletes need to stay out longer and recover more to make sure they are healthy before they come back so they don't endure long-term problems and they don't increase the likelihood of potential long-term damage,' said Larry Venis, athletic trainer for Boston University's men's hockey team.

By Stephanie Smith, CNN via wptz.com

via nowpublic.com

A Huge Fight Broke Out During the Texas High School State Championship. Here is the Texas High School Hockey Fight Video

We all know that high school football in Texas is a big deal, but it looks like Texas high school hockey is pretty intense too.

A major Texas high school hockey fight broke out over the weekend. During the Texas state hockey championship, Keller High School beat Arlington Martin 9-3. A Keller player seemed to lay a blindside hit on an Arlington player, who reportedly suffered a concussion.

Read more at nowpublic.com

by Alan Schwarz, New York Times

TECUMSEH, Ontario -- For 16 seasons, Bob Probert's fists were two of hockey's most notorious weapons, winning most of his 246 fights and feeding the N.H.L.'s fondness for bare-knuckle brawling.

But the legacy of Probert, who died last July of heart failure at 45, could soon be rooted as much in his head as his hands. After examining Probert's brain tissue, researchers at Boston University said this week that they found the same degenerative disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, whose presence in more than 20 deceased professional football players has prompted the National Football League to change some rules and policies in an effort to limit dangerous head impacts.

Although the National Hockey League has taken steps recently to reduce brain trauma -- banning blindside hits to the head, for example -- it has nonetheless continued to allow the fighting that some say is part of the sport's tradition and appeal. Teams continue to employ and reward players like Probert, who are known as enforcers because of how they intimidate opponents.

by Derek Abma, CNS, montrealgazette.com

Mario Lemieux's recent threat to sever connections with the NHL after a brawl involving his Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Islanders has us talking about hockey violence again - and this is good.

Every few years something happens - such as Todd Bertuzzi's career-ending attack on Steve Moore in 2004 or Marty McSorley knocking Donald Brashear unconscious with a stick to the head in 2000 - that prompts people to debate fighting's place in hockey.

In the end, those who run the National Hockey League and other branches of the North American hockey industry tend to decide these are isolated incidents that warrant no extraordinary action.

via huffingtonpost.com

After the ref of a youth hockey game called two penalties, a 5-minute boarding and one for cross-checking, a coach became so upset that he decided to throw a garbage can onto the ice. The referees fired back by refusing to continue the game until the coach cleaned up the mess he made. The coach, whose team was down 4-1 at the time, eventually walked onto the ice with a broom and cleaned up the trash.

MICHAEL TUTTON, Halifax-- The Canadian Press

Elizabeth Dagg doesn't hear the cross-ice screams of British Columbia's ringette squad, but the deaf player finds other ways to communicate in a fast-breaking sport where an unexpected pass can clinch a game.

Coach Richard White describes the 17-year-old deaf athlete as having an almost uncanny ability to see or "sense" where the ring should go.

"There's been times there's been three people on Elizabeth. There's no way she can see anybody. She can't hear them. But for some reason she knows where to put the ring," the coach said in an interview.

"So she has a chemistry going on."

Dagg was close to being cut from the squad, but improved her game in the closing months before the provincial squad was chosen, said White.