Protect Your Noggin

If there's one concern that every hockey player, hockey parent, and hockey coach has, it's the safety of the game when it comes to players remaining healthy and in the line-up. One of the biggest injuries that keeps players on the sideline are concussions, and it's a scary injury because of how serious it can be since we can't see the severity of the injury outside of symptoms. It's also scary when one knows that concussions can get worse if a players rushes back, and there can be long-term effects on someone's health if CTE becomes prevalent. In saying that, a good helmet can reduce the likelihood of suffering a concussion, but how do parents and players determine which hockey helmets are the best for safety?

Most manufacturers will tell you that their helmets pass all the requirements for safety certifications, but we all know that just means it meets the minimum standards for safety. Certain stores may push one helmet over another based on sales requirements or some other metric, but I'm looking for and want the helmet or helmets that provide the best safety for my skull. Where do we turn for this info?

Thankfully, it seems one labratory had the same question. Today, the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab released their first-ever ratings for youth hockey helmets after running multiple tests on 33 different helmets from hockey equipment manufacturers, and I immediately dove into the results to see which helmets made the cut and which ones did not. Needless to say, this might be a list you want to keep handy when it comes to buying a new hockey helmet in the future or sooner if your child is currently wearing one of the not-so-good helmets.

I appreciate the effort that the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab put into doing this testing because, as stated above, concussions can be scary. As stated on their site, "Our ratings are an independent and objective assessment of helmet performance for consumers and are conducted free from manufacturer influence" which means that these tests were done independently without any influence or input from the manufacturers. That's good because it means these tests were done without a concern for the results outside of reporting those results.

Secondly, "[e]ach youth hockey helmet is evaluated based on the results of 48 laboratory impact tests. These tests are designed to represent the types of head impacts that can occur during youth hockey play. For each impact, we measure both linear and rotational head acceleration, which are correlated to concussion risk" which should put some concerns to rest about exactly how these helmets were tested when it comes to brain safety. Is it perfect? No, and no system ever is. But the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab did their best to replicate head impacts that can and do lead to concussions.

You may be one of those people who doesn't want to read reports and stare at numbers all day, but there were two numbers that one should note when looking at the ratings given to the 33 helmets: the score given to each helmet and the retail cost of the helmet. The score assigned by the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab assigned lower scores to better helmets, so you want to be like golfers and aim for the lowest score possible. Having a score of 2.5 is better than a 4.0.

The one that I think may carry just as much importance for those shelling out for these helmets is the price tag associated with the specific model of helmet. The prices range from less than $100 to up to $500 for a helmet, and the ratings will prove that higher prices don't always mean safer for brains. In fact, of the ten helmets that got a five-star rating, three cost less than $100 and the two helmets with the lowest scores are both less than $70. While it might be cool to have a $200 helmet, your brain may not agree if it doesn't offer much protection. Caveat emptor, but use your head. Excuse the pun.

Maybe you've looked at the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab report I linked above. Maybe you're wondering what I'd recommend when it comes to ratings, scores, and costs. Maybe you didn't read it and are looking for the cheat sheet about what helmet you should be looking at for your child. I'll make this easy on everyone by making three recommendations when it comes to helmets, and my focus is on safety and costs because you can replace a helmet, but your can't replace your son or daughter or their personalities. Here are my Top Three Helmets based on the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab report with links to well-known Canadian retailers for each helmet.

• Bauer RE-AKT 55 with Bauer X facemask - 2.67 score
• Bauer IMS 5.0 with Bauer Profile I facemask - 2.72 score
• CCM Multisport with CCM FM YTH facemask - 3.32 score

If you're wondering, none of those helmets cost more than $80 CDN, and they were ranked as the #1, #2, and #9 helmets in the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab study of the 33 tested. When it comes to safety and costs, these three are the best of both worlds when it comes to protecting the developing brains of youth hockey players.

For the vast majority of kids who play hockey, my hope is that your son or daughter never has to deal with a concussion or any sort of head trauma at any point in their lives. Investing in a safer helmet is a good insurance policy to protect against anything like that happening, so I cannot stress enough that you should review the list and evaluate what your son or daughter may be wearing at the rink. I'm not imploring you to spend money you may not have at this time, but my hope is that you'll use this information to keep your child safer in the game they love playing so they can keep playing.

A big stick-tap goes out to the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab for sending me an email about this because this kind of information could change the game when it comes to keeping kids safer in the game. And that's something that everyone should be able to support at all times.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!