The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between task cohesion and social cohesion and performance of women's intercollegiate Division I field hockey teams. Twenty-six teams (n=26) from the 1989 season participated in this study, representing 32% of the total number of NCAA Division I teams. Specifically, team task cohesion and social cohesion measures from mid-season were compared to performance measures at the end of the season. The Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ) developed by Widmeyer, Brawley, and Carron (1985) was used to measure cohesion. Performance was measured by percentage of games won, and also by a power rating developed by the NCAA field hockey committee. The GEQ consists of four cohesion constructs, two task and two social. Each of the four scales was compared to each of the performance measures, as well as both task scales combined and both social scales combined. Median values for each teams' cohesion measures were correlated with performance measures using the Pearson Product Moment coefficient of correlation. The results indicated that task cohesion was significantly related to team performance. Social cohesion variables when compared to power rating, and the Group Integration-Social construct when compared to win/loss percentage were significantly related to performance. Although significant, the social cohesion results were considerably lower than the task cohesion results.

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Head impacts can result in various levels of brain trauma, from mild to severe, and often result in long lasting effects on human brain function (McAllister & McCrea, 2017; Sollmann et al., 2018). Over the past two decades alone the National Hockey League (NHL) has made several rule changes to the game (Marek, 2015; National Hockey League Official Rules 2010–11, 2010; National Hockey League Official Rules 2011–12, 2011; National Hockey League Official Rules 2014-15, 2014). Frequency and magnitude are needed to examine brain trauma as examining brain trauma solely on magnitude does not capture a full brain trauma profile or the long-term consequences of repetitive brain strain; higher frequencies at lower magnitudes of strain may result in long-term neurologic complications. The purpose of this study was to compare frequency of head impacts and frequency-magnitude of brain strain between the 2003-04 and 2016-17 seasons of North American professional ice hockey. Videos of head impact events from twenty 2003-04 and twenty 2016-17 regular season NHL games were analyzed. Head impact conditions were characterized by events type, inbound velocity, location and elevation, and reconstructed using physical and finite element model methods. Overall frequency of head impacts was similar between the two seasons. Head-to-glass had the highest frequency for event type in both seasons. Mann-Whitney U tests found there was a significant decrease in glove-to-head impact events in the 2016-17 season compared to the 2003-04 (U=111, p=0.009). There was also a significant decrease in the frequency of fight events in 2003-04 during regulation time when compared to 2016-17 (U=86, p<0.001). A significant increase in the frequency of head impacts within the low MPS level was found in the 2016-17 season compared to 2003-04 (U=130, p=0.050). Given the popularity of ice hockey nationally, continentally, and globally, the results of this study provide a better understanding of frequency of head impacts and magnitude of brain strain, allowing stakeholders to make informed decisions involving repetitive brain strain during the game and give insight in the effectiveness of rules involving head contact. Future studies should consider including the effect of rule changes on overtime and pre- and post-season game play compared to in-season games.

In recent years, the sport of women's ice hockey is growing fast worldwide. Upon winning the bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, women's ice hockey in China started to develop rapidly. However, the development of women's ice hockey in China has encountered numerous challenges. These challenges include addressing traditional Chinese culture, gender norms, and the process of sport reform. This study used a qualitative case study methodology to examine the perspectives of Chinese women ice hockey players, coaches, club administrators, government administrators, and the parents of youth hockey players to understand how women's ice hockey navigated itself within the institutional complexity to gain legitimacy, and how the different institutional logics impacted the identities of organizations within women's ice hockey in China. An abductive grounded theory approach was used to analyze the transcriptions and archived documents. Findings indicated that there were challenges for the development of women's ice hockey in China at macro level, meso level, and micro level. Actors such as hockey administrations, professional clubs, and ice hockey coaches and players at different levels adopted multiple forms of institutional work to find out ways to incorporate institutional structures that mitigated the fact that there were multiple logics. In addition, influenced by competing logics, the organizations created collective identities to balance those logics. This study provides insights into how the actors within sport organizations create a more satisfactory environment to gain legitimacy.

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Ice hockey players are at a high risk to sustain a concussion. Most of the concussion-inducing hits are to the jaw region, nevertheless, most players do not wear any protective gear shielding the jaw.  This parametric study used finite element simulations in LS-Dyna to evaluate the potential of foam materials in a jaw guard that could be attached to a helmet to reduce the concussion risk.  Here, it was investigated how nine different foam materials influence the ability of the jawguard to protect against concussion. Furthermore, aspects like foam thickness, shell thickness, and the impacting object were evaluated. In a second part, the formerly used HIII head model was exchanged with the KTH HBM, a FE model with a detailed representation of a jaw, and it was looked at how a movable jaw affects the head kinematics. Stiffer foams with a certain stress-strain behavior tend to aid best in energy absorption in the simulated crash scenarios and therefore lower the risk of sustaining a concussion. Impact angle and location influence the result significantly. Two simulated impacts show a decrease in concussion risk by up to 8.2\% and 6.9\% respectively when the jawguard was implemented, while the two other impacts resulted in an increase in concussion risk. Shell and foam thickness variation results depend mostly on the impact scenarios. However, it was found that a soft impactor helps tremendously in avoiding concussions. The hits on the KTH HBM tend to produce higher linear and angular accelerations but no significant difference is seen in angular velocity.  In conclusion, using stiff foams in ice hockey jawguards is a promising approach to attenuate impact energy caused by a collision during an ice hockey game. However, the effect of the jawguard on the concussion risk is very sensitive to the impact location and direction.

Ice hockey is a sport with high velocities and a large number of impacts to the head. The high occurrence of concussions is being recognized, and both short and long term consequences have been found. As body checking is the main situation inducing concussions, often in the form of shoulder-to-face impacts, there is thought to be a potential to lowering the rates of concussions with equipment that covers the jaw and chin area. In this study, in-game videos from the Swedish Hockey League were analyzed regarding impact situations and impact locations. The most occurring impact situations were simulated with finite element simulation on a Hybrid-III 50th percentile head and neck model wearing a standard ice hockey helmet. Three jawguard designs were developed and tested with the model, and seven different attachments were tested on two of the designs. The results showed varying effect of the jawguard, depending on the impact situation. In impacts to the side of the chin, all three designs reduced the strains in the brain, by successfully reducing the axial rotation. In impacts to the side of the face/head and to the front of the chin, the jawguard designs produced higher strains in the brain than without any protection. The helmet in this study was attached to the head model with a chin cup, and this may have had a significant effect on the strains of the brain. Other limitations to the simulation set up indicates that the jawguards should be tested on a more realistic model to properly evaluate the jawguard.

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