Recently, I took my son shopping for hockey equipment. He picked up some elbow pads that have pretty much become the standard nowadays: the ones made of stiff, hard-capped plastic. I told him to put them down and look for a soft-capped alternative.
This is an issue that I feel very strongly about. While the NHL and other leagues have taken steps to automatically penalize contact to the head, hits from behind and other body checks that all-too-frequently result in concussions and other injuries nowadays, not a damn thing is being done about changing the pads that get used nowadays.
Back in the 1960s, consumer advocate Ralph Nader once famous wrote of the Chevrolet Corvair and other cars that they were "unsafe at any speed". Car manufactures had little desire for economic reasons to spend money on improving safety or even adding safety features for which the technology was already easily available.
Well, the same thing goes with today's hockey equipment. The equipment manufacturers claim that they offer the greatest possible protection to the wearer and necessary in today's higher-speed game with more jarring collisions.
That's a load of bunk. In reality, it is simply more cost-efficient to manufacture the hard-shell variety than some of the still-protective alternatives.
The added protection the bulky, hard-capped "Robocop" pads offer is offset by both the false sense of security they give many wearers and the increased risk to other players on the ice. As a matter of fact, today's pads are basically deadly weapons that cause too many injuries even on otherwise clean checks. I cannot emphasize this point strongly enough.
Apart from supervising the officials in the ECAC, I serve on the NCAA conference's concussion study committee along with the likes of Harvard head coach (himself a former NHL player) Ted Donato and the head coach of the NCAA's defending Frozen Four champion, Yale's Keith Allain (a former NHL and Olympic assistant and goaltending coach). We have had many lively discussions about the problems with today's pads and what ought to be done to improve player safety.
At one meeting, I brought along a pair of my old pads from my playing days, which were still in pretty good shape. We compared them to today's much bulkier robo-pads. What galls me is that there is already the technology for a happy medium between the two. Not so coincidentally, the style that is the most cost-efficient for the manufacturers is the style that almost inevitably gets peddled to players from a young age onward.
What has happened in pro hockey is that the tail wags the dog. The NHL -- and the Players' Association in cooperation -- has the ability and power to be at the forefront of this issue by banning the most dangerous varieties of padding and requiring manufacturers to provide alternatives that are protective to the wearer without being hazardous to other players.
Instead, what we get is a whole lot of nothing.
The powers-that-be in the top leagues talk the talk about preventive measures to reduce concussions -- changing checking rules, increasing suspensions -- yet players keep on getting hurt. The padding issue is something that's right there under their noses. The manufacturers need the NHL's stamp-of-approval on their products and they aren't about to cut their noses off to spite their faces by threatening to withdraw sponsorships if the League cracks down on dangerous equipment.
If the NHL and NHLPA take the lead here, other leagues can more easily follow suit to make the game safer at all levels.
Another point: If I had my way, neck guards would remain mandatory as players rise through the ranks of junior into men's hockey. This is especially important, because of the rise of skate cuts.
Also, shot blocking has become such a heavily emphasized element of our sport. There are many players -- even at the NHL level -- who demonstrate poor and dangerous form when blocking shots. Too many players leave themselves exposed to harm's way.
As an aside, it was the late Philadelphia Flyers defenseman and assistant coach Barry Ashbee who taught me the proper way to block shots. I was already playing at the collegiate level and then the minor pro leagues before I had the correct form one hundred percent down pat as a habit. Start early with this instruction, hockey coaches, because your young players will especially need to know it as they rise into higher levels.
I am someone who has always believed in players' choice when it comes to certain aspects of equipment, but I am not totally on board with Don Cherry and other turn-back-the-clock types.
In today's game, things like properly worn mouth guards and neck protection should be common sense. I did not wear a helmet -- much less a visor -- as a player or referee but I NEVER questioned the toughness of anyone who chose a more protective helmet and a face shield. For example, I had immense respect for the quiet toughness of someone like Ray Bourque, who wore a visor.
Players can be re-educated about safety issues and adapt to padding requirements. It takes time and it takes a League and a union willing to actually do something to take common sense measures. Again, the highest chance for success is if the NHL takes the lead, and then it can and will quickly filter downward to the other levels of hockey.
I'll close this out by changing geeahs. Sorry, that's the Bostonian in me. I meant gears.
From a quality of the game perspective, one positive change that the NHL has enacted has been reducing the size of goalie equipment. I say this with all due disrespect: Another part of the reason so many shots today go wide of the net is that the goalie equipment got so big and the goalies that get signed to contracts are getting taller and taller that shooters can hardly see the net in many cases.
Over the course of my refereeing career, I was amazed at how the old goalie equipment (which was legitimately insufficently protective in some ways) ballooned into Michelin-Man gear right before my very eyes.
One of the biggest offenders of gear-size abuse was someone with whom I always had a friendly relationship: Garth Snow, who played goal for Quebec, Philadelphia, Vancouver, Pittsburgh and the Islanders and is now the general manager of the Islanders. Snowy's parents owned a lumber yard in Wrentham, Massachusetts.
I used to tease Garth on the ice about the gear he wore. I remember one time I was working a game in Philly during the 1996-97 season.
I skated up to him and said, "Hey, Snowy! Sorry to hear about the robbery at your folks' business."
"What are you talking about?" he asked. "What robbery?"
"Sorry, my mistake," I said. "I saw those two-by-fours on your shoulders and figured you must have recovered them after someone swiped their stock."
Enjoy Brad Marsh's weekly blog tomorrow. I'll be back on Thursday.
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Recent Blogs by Paul Stewart
Defending Teammates, the Code and the Human Rulebook
Emery and the Aggressor Rule (Rule 46.2)
Hockey Fights Cancer: My Story
Delay of Game: Good Intentions, Bad Rules
Too Many Mississippis: The Hanzal Suspension
Unholy Divers and the Abominable PC Rulebook
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Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the only American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Today, Stewart is a judicial and league discipline consultant for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).
The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials, while also maintaining a busy schedule as a public speaker, fund raiser and master-of-ceremonies for a host of private, corporate and public events. As a non-hockey venture, he is the owner of Lest We Forget.
Stewart is currently working with a co-author on an autobiography. 
Blogger •Former NHL Referee • 
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