No helmet in football or hockey can protect from facial blows. An intraoral device, designed for boxers, may be the answer for these types of concussions.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paula-duffy/the-nfl-can-help-prevent_b_351212.html

Untill the NHL and all leagues get thier collective heads out of the sand and put a stop to hitting from behind, equipment improvements are nothing more than bandaids,
Ironic that hooking and holding has been stopped but something much more dangerous to a players life is allowed to continue and even get worse at the same time ,is unbelievable. The powers that be, including Brien Burke,need to demphasize the "hitting " game and the fighting as well, and emphasize the speed, skill and finesse part of the game and stop insulting the intelligence of the fans, before more deaths occur.

Charlie,

Deaths? What deaths? Hoenstly man, when you make unsubstantiated claims like that it discredits everything else you have to say. I cannot think of any deaths that have occurred at the professinal, minor, junior or even child levels of hockey that have come from agressive hitting. if you're thinking of the tragedy of the man who was killed while having a fight in the snior leagues last year, that had nothing to do with hitting. It was a fight that occurred and his helmet came off and he hit his head on the ice. A tragedy to be sure but it had nothing to do with the topic being discussed here.

Hitting from behind is being cracked down on in the NHL like never before. My son plays midget hockey and hitting from behind has been taken seriously all the years he has played.

However, human nature being what it is, players, coaches and teams find a way to take a rule designed to protect players and use it to their advantage. If you have watched any decent amount of hockey, which from your uninformed comments I doubt you have, you will see that many players seeing someone coming to hit them from the side deliberately turn their back to try to get that player ejected for hitting from behind.

If you have spent any amount of time on the ice with even midget players (I have) you understand that the game of hockey is played at an incredible speed. Players often have a split second to make a decision about hitting someone and many times it is impossible to lay off on a hit you are committed to.

"De-emphasizing" hitting, or taking agresssive play out of the game of hockey turns it into nothing more than a game of shinny. No true hockey fan wants that.

I like what Mark Messier and the Messier project are doing. if this helmet can do what it promises then we can keep the aggressive hard hitting game that we have while protecting the athletes that play it. A former professional hockey player like Messier understands how important it is to keep the game of hockey true to its roots of agressiveness and intimidation. He seems to have found a solution that stays true to those roots. Well done Mark.

I don't want to sound like a jerky know it all... but any doctor, any dentist, any sane rational person will tell you that no, I mean NO helmet can protect against concussion or brain damage. A helmet does not stop your brain from rattling around in your skull when it is being impacted with the pressure of a full grown human being, or the force of a head being whipped into the ice (think Eric Lindros after Scott Stevens caught him with his head down.)

I am all for new technology that will aid in softening the impact that a head receives by distributing the force through the helmet, and not the through the skull. But lets be honest here, the majority of head trauma suffered in hockey is not due to dirty illegal hits to the head... look at replays carefully and you will see players not respecting their space on the ice. HEad down, admiring their passes, turning their bodies, putting themselves in positions where they can be hurt. It is time to teach against this sort of bad habit. If you teach a kid to pay attention on the ice, and how to make good decisions with his or her body, teach them how to make and receive a proper body check these types of injuries would fall drastically at all levels of hockey going forward.

Lets all try to remember that not so long ago, when some of hockey's biggest stars were getting KO'd, the hitter was hailed as a hero, and the player who got their bell rung was reprimanded by the media for being guilty of the above mentioned bad habits. There will always be dirty hits and disrespect; how you take that out of the game(?) I dont know. But proper education and at higher levels a whole lot more respect for the highly trained paid athlete who is coming to take you off the puck would help lessen the amount of media pressure hockey moms recieve, and worry about.

Just to recap: New tech= good. Allowing bad habits and disrespect of the game and other players = more head injuries, and more bad press. You just can not stop a big open ice clean legal shoulder to shoulder, or shoulder to chest hit from hurting someone, whether it be a body or head injury. It is the nature of a high speed collision.

... and now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

Well said Darris!
I used to sell Football equipment and I remember when Riddell came out with their Revolution helmet and certain sales people were touting it as "Concussion-proof". I used to laugh at them, I still laugh at them.
When you play sports you take the risk of injury including a concussion, you can do things to help protect yourself, such as wearing proper protective equipment; but nothing short of standing stock-still in bomb shelter for the rest of your life will protect you from a concussion, and even then mother nature may have other plans for you.

Just to echo a previous comment...There is no such thing as a concussion proof helmet. A concussion is generally caused as a result of a rotational impact. The brain 'rattles' or 'bounces' off the skull walls, causing the concussion. It is irresponsible to suggest that a helmet could prevent concussions. A helmet is a great tool to defend against focal injuries, direct blows to the head, but will not stop a concussion from occurring.

If you go to the website and actually read the information and watch the videos you will find out that the creators of the M11 helmet do not claim to be eliminating concussions. To say such a thing would be naive and stupid. They are simply using their technology to try to come up with a better way to protect athletes' heads. The purpose is to make the helmet absorb more of the impact. If the technology backs the design, which I believe it does, then it should at least be tried and tested. If it doesn't work then we are no better off then when we started but we are no worse off either.

Lets step back a couple of decades and compare the number of head traumas to todays numbers. Why is there so many head traumas in todays hockey? It's caused by the hard shelled elbow and shoulder pads the players are wearing that gives them the sense of invincability. This causes the players to hit harder than before without the worry of hurting themselves in the process. Coach Don Cherry has been mentioning this for a couple of years now. Listen to him... He knows!!!
Bring back the soft pads again!

Its about respect or lack there of. People hit now anytime any where when you have the puck or don't .But mostly they hit for one purpose to hurt somebody.shake them up what ever and mostly its cowardly because they do it when you can't see it coming. Its entertaining to some but its NOT Hockey

Right on Spitfire & Nojo. Over the years equipment has become lethal weapons as Don Cherry has mentioned numereous time. Remember when Don smacked Ron with a hard shell elbow pad on the head. That was priceless. In my view - shoulder pads and elbow pads are a big cause of head injuries either directly or indirectly. I say yes to better helmets and no to the hard shell elbow & shoulder pads. Just by doing this I believe head injuries would be reduced considerably.

Lawrence, been there dine that and have two boys who played Jr.and went on to better things.Your response is typical of the tough guy. you better hope your son keeps his helmet on tight and does not meet up with someone bigger and tougher than he is.

Charlie you haven't made a valid point regarding concussions at all yet. If you are going to state that hitting from behind is the number one problem in hockey and not relate it to the topic of concussions at all or back yourself up in an argument, then don't comment on it. Calling Lawrence a tough guy for what he said is step one of you don't know what you are talking about (because you have nothing valid to come back at him for) and telling him his son better keep his helmet on tight and hope that he doesn't run into someone bigger is the most childish thing I have ever read on a comment page like this. Good one, you are a credit to society and should run for commisioner with that stellar rebuttal! Who is trying to be the real tough guy? Hitting from behind is a serious offense and no league is taking it lightly at all and no matter what kind of rule changes you make there will always be several instances each year of players hitting each other from behind.

I have to agree with Lawrence and Darris, i have to say that it is refreshing to hear someone else voice that opinion because all i ever read is people like Charlie. hockey is a rough game played at a very high speed with big men, hits are going to happen and anyone who thinks that there is some way to eliminate that has never played the game on any competitive level not to mention that if you remove the aggressive play, the hitting and the fighting we might as well watch figure skating.
The way to prevent injuries is to educate the younger players on how to take a hit and how to avoid getting nailed with your head down. I have noticed way too many players turning their back to the play even in the NHL and at then end of the day if they deliberately put themselves into a position like that then they deserve whatever they get.
As far as respect goes, there was a lo t more respect between players when everyone knew that if you got dirty the other teams policeman would jump of the bench and teach you some respect.

find better skilled players, those who can score goals, those whocan't , who lack the talent, are just goons on ice.

I find it interesting that now big shots of the NHL have their kids in the game and moving into the NHL ranks that they are willing to look at the change. All those years of regular parents having to deal with their kids getting career ending head injuries didnèt really matter. Seems to me the game is run by a bunch of antiquated old men who only look out for themselves and theirs..We never really meant a thing to them except the size of our pocket books. The league needs a complete overhaul.

Boxing injuries, blows to the jaw are related to CTE in boxers with Pugilistica dementia.
Protecting the jaw is paramount. Along with a good helmet, a corrective mouth guard will help. The NHL's workers compensation provider has already taken action.

http://www.mahercorlabs.com/news/article-20090831.htm

The problem isn't with bigger players, or hard capped pads. Remember they used to play without helmets and concussions weren't an issue. The real problem now is the players cannot be held accountable for their actions. Coincidently when the instigator rule was established hits from behind increased as well as open ice hits. If you knew that a Derek Boogaard type was going to kick your ass if you made that hit (clean or dirty) you might think twice. Past star players like Gretzky and the rest of the 80's Oilers teams were rarely cheap shotted because the players knew Dave Semenko was waiting for you if you did. As a result of that the stars could do their thing and scoring was at an all-time high. Just my two cents.

i have tried on hockey helmets for forty-five years. there was (is) only one which could be said fit (my head), and that was the Mikita. it has a shell, a layer of dense foam, and a layer of less dense foam, which fits snugly to my head.
there seems to be a culture of slackness among players at all levels above beginners. it is bad enough that the foam tears at the hair, without the added slackness of the chin strap, which permits the 'thing' to float around the head.

hey guys, look down. would you wear skates that fit like that?