Ice hockey facial protectors are essential to prevent eye and dental injuries but must also not encumber vision and, in turn, players' performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of three different facial protection conditions on response time (RsT) and kinematics in a goal directed pointing task: helmet (control), visor, and cage. A 13 light target array and six-camera Vicon Mx system were used to collect response time and kinematic data. Subjects recruited were 16 male and 12 female varsity ice hockey players (n=28). Results demonstrated that although kinematics remained largely unaffected, throughout the visual field test RsT increased significantly with the cage (23 ms) as well as delayed head movement for both the visor (14 ms) and cage (18 ms). These differences may well represent a functional disadvantage to a player's performance given the dynamic, open environment where multiple players contest for puck possession. In summary, further research is warranted to achieve both optimal performance and safety.

This text/video thesis investigates how Canadian fathers feel about the threat of losing pond hockey, a revered game they love, to climate change. It responds to the David Suzuki Foundation’s (DSF) assertion that under a global ‘business as usual’ rate of producing greenhouse gases, the skating season of the world’s largest ‘rink’--the Rideau Canal--would shrink from a nine week historical average to just one week by century’s end (DSF, 2009a). Seven outdoor-hockey-loving fathers were interviewed, which revealed their willingness to share feelings of concern, sadness, fear, uncertainty, and need for action to mitigate against and adapt to the ill-effects of climate change on this game, and more serious social situations. Despite concerns it was revealed they took few substantial actions against climate change, which they recognized might affect themselves, their children, communities, and future generations. Conversation, at times nostalgic, helped make these issues more salient.

This study aims to identify and quantify injury diagnoses, locations, mechanisms, and trends for a Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (CIAU) male ice hockey team between the 1984--85 and 2000--2001 seasons. Injury rates were assessed by type, position, period, zone, game type, and time loss. Also described are the interactions between injury location and diagnosis, as well as the relationships between time loss, injury location, and diagnosis. This study was based on injury reports provided by the ice hockey staff, which followed a standard injury reporting protocol over the last 17 years. The injury rate of 18.9 injuries per 1000 player hours, third highest among intercollegiate sports, increased slightly over the period covered. The shoulder, face, thigh, and knee were the most injured areas. The number of lacerations decreased, while contusions, sprains, and strains increased, causing the most time loss. Concussions represented the fourth greatest cause of time loss although it accounted for 6.6% of diagnosed injuries. Checking was by far the greatest cause of injury. The examination of the anatomical location-diagnosis interaction revealed that most lacerations affected the face (chin), instability-related injuries (i.e. sprains, strains, and dislocations) involved mostly the knee, groin, and shoulder, respectively. Fractures were localized mostly to the fingers. It seems, therefore, that certain anatomical locations are more susceptible to specific injury types. The fact that the injury rate increased over time may be an indication of the increasing intensity of the game, players' aggressive attitudes and behaviors in response to equipment innovations, or utilization beyond design limitations. Players already have a gladiator-like appearance, and unless we choose to define hockey as a gladiator sport, some important rule, attitude, and equipment design changes will have to be implemented.

Focusing on the perspectives of coaches from a First Nations community in Manitoba’s Interlake region, the purpose of this study was to understand the importance of hockey in the community and to explore needs/interests in relation to coaching education. Of specific interest with respect to coaching education was the identification of content and delivery elements that would optimize the relevance of such initiatives to the needs and interests of the selected community. Grounded in a qualitative tradition, a case study design was employed using individual interviews with Aboriginal youth hockey coaches to collect the data required for achieving the purpose of the study. The findings revealed that the coaches viewed hockey as a critical means for positively altering behavioral patterns and attitudes of children. The findings also make clear the need for sport organizations to use their resources to deliver ongoing coaching education tailored to the needs of the selected community.

The success of our Canadian national hockey teams in the international arena offers a platform on which to evaluate our current athlete development initiatives in hockey. Following the Molson Open Ice Summit in 1999, Hockey Canada embarked on several initiatives exploring ways to enhance player development. One of these initiatives was the National Coach Mentorship Program, which emphasizes cooperation between coaches, within a highly competitive environment. The purpose of this study was to analyze the implementation of the NCMP in Manitoba to further understand tensions between emphasis on competitive performance outcome principles in Canadian hockey and collaborative approaches to coach education. Using a community of practice model with semi-structured interviews, complemented by participant observation, this study was completed to provide a greater understanding of tensions in mentoring by analyzing the program’s formal parameters and design and its’ current manifestation in concrete mentoring relationships in the Manitoba hockey coaching community.

The purpose was to examine the effect of shaft stiffness on puck velocity and response characteristics of the stick during performance of a slap shot. Six elite male ice hockey players performed 6 slap shots with 4 sticks of different shaft stiffness designated as medium (13 N/m), stiff (16N/m), extra (17 N/m) and pro stiff (19 N/m). These four levels represent the range in stiffness of sticks available to hockey players. The mechanics of the slap shot were evaluated by recording ground reaction forces and kinematics from high speed filming and a radar gun. Data were analyzed with a 3-way repeated measures ANOVA for 7 dependant variables---puck velocity, peak Z force, peak Y force, time to achieve peak Z force, time to achieve peak Y force, peak deflection and time to peak deflection of the shaft. Results indicated: (1) the stick with shaft stiffness of 13 N/m produced the highest puck velocity, the greatest amount of shaft deflection, the longest time to peak deflection and the lowest peak Z forces; (2) time to obtain peak forces in the Y and Z directions were similar across level of shaft stiffness; (3) puck velocity was influenced by the interaction of subject and stiffness; (4) variability in performance measures across subjects was greater than the variability across stiffness.

Titel: Heart of hockey – vi ger oss aldrig. En kvalitativ studie om två hockeyorganisationers kommunikation kring välgörenhet. Författare: Johanna Alba, Erika Skogsberg, Johanna Grundberg Kurs, termin och år: Vetenskaplig rapport, HT 2013 Antal ord i uppsatsen: 10.565 stycken. Problemformulering och syfte: Syftet är att beskriva hur två olika hockeyklubbar kommunicerar sina aktiviteter för välgörande ändamål via sociala medier och på sina hemsidor. Syftet specificeras genom följande frågeställningar; Skiljer sig de olika klubbarnas kommunikation åt? På vilket sätt i så fall? Vad är det för skillnader och/eller likheter mellan de olika forumen? Metod och material: Kvalitativ textanalys. Huvudresultat: Vi kom fram till att Frölunda och MODO kommunicerade väldigt lika i sociala medier. Både uppdaterade mest frekvent på Twitter och allra minst på Facebook. De var även väldigt lika i vilken utsträckning de interagerade med sina intressenter, då båda organisationerna gjorde detta sällan. De största skillnaderna var hur de valde att framställa sina uppdateringar i sociala medier. I båda organisationerna fokuserade man mest på sitt egna engagemang snarare än välgörenheten. Dock skrev MODO främst utifrån en spelare eller laget medan Frölunda mer ofta utgick från konkreta händelser. Nyckelord: Välgörenhet, kommunikation, hockey och idrott.

Focusing on the perspectives of coaches from a First Nations community in Manitoba’s Interlake region, the purpose of this study was to understand the importance of hockey in the community and to explore needs/interests in relation to coaching education. Of specific interest with respect to coaching education was the identification of content and delivery elements that would optimize the relevance of such initiatives to the needs and interests of the selected community. Grounded in a qualitative tradition, a case study design was employed using individual interviews with Aboriginal youth hockey coaches to collect the data required for achieving the purpose of the study. The findings revealed that the coaches viewed hockey as a critical means for positively altering behavioral patterns and attitudes of children. The findings also make clear the need for sport organizations to use their resources to deliver ongoing coaching education tailored to the needs of the selected community.

The success of our Canadian national hockey teams in the international arena offers a platform on which to evaluate our current athlete development initiatives in hockey. Following the Molson Open Ice Summit in 1999, Hockey Canada embarked on several initiatives exploring ways to enhance player development. One of these initiatives was the National Coach Mentorship Program, which emphasizes cooperation between coaches, within a highly competitive environment. The purpose of this study was to analyze the implementation of the NCMP in Manitoba to further understand tensions between emphasis on competitive performance outcome principles in Canadian hockey and collaborative approaches to coach education. Using a community of practice model with semi-structured interviews, complemented by participant observation, this study was completed to provide a greater understanding of tensions in mentoring by analyzing the program’s formal parameters and design and its’ current manifestation in concrete mentoring relationships in the Manitoba hockey coaching community.

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