In our last post we had mentioned the teen High School hockey player from Methuen, Mass., who came very close to death from a skate blade laceration to his wrist. Fortunately he will be ok and we sincerely wish him all the best! These “non Pro” incidents have been going mostly unnoticed which does not help in the educational process. Last night Sens' star defenseman Erik Karlsson suffered from a lacerated Achilles tendon from a skate blade. Even with these “Pro” incidents tragic as they may be, exposure immediately spikes and quickly falls from the radar. Whereas this should be prime time for educating the hockey community regarding prevention (cut-resistant hockey innovations). So for many it still doesn't hit home, the meaningful message is being lost. The "Player cut by a skate - stuff happens - moving on" mentality has to end. The first week into the National League season two players had suffered skate blade lacerations to their thighs and more recently another skate laceration to a players' foot. Now Karlsson's unfortunate injury, "When will the alarm bells sound?"
We do not take this lightly...research has shown (see here) the most common types of hockey injuries are lacerations (27%). It should not take serious injuries like these or even worse a fatality before cut-resistant products get the attention they deserve. Accidental skate cuts occur at all levels of hockey and shouldn't go unnoticed. Over the course of the last year and a half we have had far too many calls/emails from parents looking to buy our ACHILLES® cut-resistant products after the fact that their child or someone else on the team had been cut. By misfortune these injuries have provided a spark to parents and players to educate themselves and look into cut-resistant protection....but sadly after the fact. The damage from these skate blade injuries can be serious and may lead not only to physical scars but also mental & physiological effects in the aftermath. We don't want this to be you. Hogan Hockey wants everyone protected before - not after an accidental skate cut.
Be proactive and not reactive. Wearing these innovative cut-resistant hockey products can help to reduce or minimize the effects of skate blade injuries!
