Boston Herald Bruins face the facts with facemasks

Fenway

HF Bookie and Bruins Historian
Sponsor
Sep 26, 2007
68,593
98,275
Cambridge, MA
Bruins face the facts with facemasks – Boston Herald

Most people would probably prefer to keep their teeth attached and their faces unaltered — even hockey players — which raises the question: Why do hockey players continue to deal with facial injuries when there’s a way to prevent pucks, sticks and skates from causing harm?

The solution would be a full facemask.

On Friday in Pittsburgh, Sean Kuraly is donning the mask to prevent further harm to a broken nose he suffered in a fight in Ottawa. While in that case it’s tough to avoid an injury from a fist to the nose, there are other cases — like in the instance of David Backes being sliced by a skate, or Ryan Donato being hit at practice on Thursday — in which a facemask would appear to be a solution.

Why that hasn’t come to be at the NHL level can be attributed to the way the game is played at the pro level.

“It’s a different style game (from college),” Donato said. “Guys are more open to not headhunting as much. If everyone was wearing bubbles, everyone would have elbows flying around and sticks everywhere. I think there’s a certain respect to everyone with just the visor on.”
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->