It’s been quite the week for Sean Kuraly.
After taking an uppercut from Ben Harpur straight to the face during about on Sunday, the B’s fourth liner managed to skate in Boston’s next two games — with a turbinate reduction procedure sandwiched in between both tilts to alleviate his fractured nose.
The procedure was minor, but there’s still plenty that the 25-year-old forward has had to adjust to upon returning to game action.
No, we’re not talking about the surgery. Rather, it’s the new gear that Kuraly will have to deal with for the time being.
For at least the next couple of games, Kuraly will have to don a full shield over his helmet as his nose recovers — an equipment requirement that’s only seen in NHL circles under the direst of circumstances.
“It definitely feels different,” Kuraly said. “Feels like there’s a shield between you and the game. I think I’ll get used to it. “
The injury bug has not been kind to the Bruins this season — especially when it comes to skates, gloves and pucks to the face.
Kuraly might have the cage to show it, but both Charlie McAvoy and David Backes are also sporting stitches as of late, off of a high stick and an errant skate blade that caught them, respectively, during Tuesday’s win over Arizona.
That’s not all.
Chris Wagner had his nose busted after taking a stick from Backes up high, Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson needed repairs after taking a deflected puck to the face and Ryan Donato lost five teeth and needed 25 stitches after a mishap in practice down in Providence.
“Good company, but also don’t want to be a part of that either,” Donato said. “Sometimes when you get to those dirty areas, those things can happen. If that’s the price to pay, then I’ll do it.”
Given the amount of damage the Bruins have taken up high this season, you’d think at least a few of these guys would opt for the chance to wear a cage on a full-time basis, right?
Well, not exactly.
While a new agreement between the NHL and NHLPA in 2013 required that all players
with less than 26 games of experience would have to play with a visor when they reached the league, larger forms of protection such as cages are only sanctioned in wake of an injury.
In article 9.8 of the NHL Rule Book, “A mask or protector of a design approved by the League may be worn by a player who has sustained a facial injury. In the first instance, the injured player shall be entitled to wear any protective device prescribed by the Club doctor. If any opposing Club objects to the device, it may record its objection with the Commissioner. “
However, “the use of pads or protectors made of metal, or of any other material likely to cause injury to an opposing player is prohibited.”
So barring some major damage to the face, you likely won’t see a player donning a full cage or shield anytime soon. Not like the players have much an objection to it.
“I don’t think it will ever get to that level,”
Torey Krug
said. “The shields are pretty good right now. There are a limited number of eye injuries. Things like that. When you’re playing against smart players, you tend to get less sticks to the face and less pucks to the face because they’re skilled with the puck and putting it in spots where you want it. I think the more skilled the game gets, the less injuries there will be and I see the game only trending toward more skill.”
Krug played with a modified protector to open the 2017-18 season — the byproduct of sustaining a broken jaw during the preseason.
During nine games with the extra gear, Krug posted three points and a minus-9 rating. Even though Krug played with a full cage growing up and during his three years at Michigan State, going back to a facemask up in the fast-paced environment of the NHL provided a challenging learning curve.
“You get used to playing without something distracting you down there and get comfortable with your peripheral vision,” Krug said. “You don’t have to look down at the puck so you can see it. While you’re looking ahead, you can see it in your peripherals. You get hit in the jaw and have to put a protector on — it’s something that, at first you’re getting used to it and you're like, ‘Oh, it’s not that bad. I’ll be able to grind through it.’
“By the end of the time when you’re ready to take it off. You’re like, ‘Wow, that actually was extremely distracting.’ It’s something that obviously you’re willing to play with because you don’t want to miss time because you’d rather be playing than sitting at home. But it’s a little more distracting than you think at the moment, but once you take it off, you realize just how big of a factor it is.”
Along with the impeded vision while playing with a full shield or cage, there is the danger of a
if the option was available to players — in which players that know they have full protection of their face will be more willing to get involved in reckless plays.
“When a guy gets hurt and he's gotta throw a cage on and now he’s playing and he’s acting like a tough guy because he’s thinking that everyone is going to give him the benefit of the doubt and not touch him in the face because he’s got a cage on. It happens at this level as well,” Krug said. “There’s definitely that gladiator effect for sure. It gives guys a little more confidence than maybe they should have.”
As grandfathered-in players join the growing crowd of NHL players donning visors, serious eye and face injuries have been avoided — such as Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic avoiding a complete obliteration of his face after taking a direct slap shot from Shea Weber two years.
So far, that seems to be all the protection that NHL players need up top to protect their face, even at the cost of a few more trips to the dentist’s office.
“I think just the hockey guys are such a close group of guys that sometimes, maybe, if they don’t go back out, they might feel like they’re giving up on their teammates or on themselves, even,” Donato said. “The fact that hockey is like that, it’s great for the sport. You can’t really take a guy off the ice. Hockey guys love the sport and love playing the spot, so I feel like any time they have a little bit of an injury, they're willing to look past it and give it their all for their team.”
Going up for seconds?
compiled over 16,000 food-safety inspection reports from health departments that monitor the 111 professional football, baseball, basketball and hockey facilities across North America.
The results were … pretty shocking.
Butch talks college football
Sure,
Anders Bjork
is the only player with legitimate ties to Notre Dame. But what about
Bruce Cassidy
, a self-described “free agent” when it came to picking a college football team while growing up in Ottawa?
Tommy Clements
“On January 1st, we’d go over the neighbors, and the bowl games were on. So when I was 8-, 9-, 10-years old, I liked Ohio State, because liked their helmets. I didn’t know what a Buckeye was, but I liked the silver on their helmets.
Archie Griffin
back then. So I became a Buckeyes fan. When you’re from Canada, you get those options, you’re kind of a free agent. Because if I said I cheered for the (University of) Ottawa Gees-Gees, you’d be looking at me like, ‘What the hell are they?’”
