Saturday, August 12, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
WHO: BC Hockey & Peninsula Panthers of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League
WHAT: Press Conference regarding Dental/Facial Injuries and Full Facial Protection
WHERE: BC Hockey Head Office, 6671 Oldfield Road, Saanichton, B.C.
WHEN: Monday, August 14 @ 1:30 pm
BC Hockey and the Peninsula Panthers Jr. Hockey Club of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League will hold a joint press conference to discuss a decision made by the Peninsula Panthers regarding player safety. In an effort to reduce dental and facial injuries in Junior Hockey, the Peninsula Panthers Junior Hockey Club Ownership and Management will mandate full facial protection for this coming 2017/18 season. The Panthers will be the first Junior Club in Western Canada to mandate this protection.
Panthers owner Pete Zubersky
….“We believe full facial protection needs to be mandated and implemented at all levels of Junior Hockey across the entire Country. Player safety clearly must be the priority. It is incumbent upon hockey management to mitigate dental and facial injuries. Times have changed and we now have access to more research. Full facial protection is already mandated through Minor Hockey and even at some college levels. We believe our players will excel and enjoy the game more when they are properly protected.”
The following persons will be in attendance Monday afternoon at the press conference:
Barry Petrachenko, Chief Executive Officer BC Hockey Phone: (250) 652-2978
Pete Zubersky, Governor and GM Peninsula Panthers Junior Hockey Club Phone: (250) 588-2151
Brad Tippett, Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations Peninsula Panthers Phone: (306) 533-7134
Monday, August 14th, 2017
This Press Conference was held at BC Hockey on Monday afternoon and was attended by all local Media in the Greater Victoria area. CHEK and CTV Television stations, the Times Colonist, Peninsula News Review, CBC Radio and CFAX Radio all are covering this story and the Peninsula Panthers expect that more coverage will follow in the weeks and months to follow. The goal of the Panthers Hockey Club is a simple one: to protect our players. We are hopeful that other squads in the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League and other Leagues across the Province will follow, it is the right thing to do. Here is an open letter from Panthers Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations.
An Open Letter From Brad TIPPETT:
Following the season we had players who had to REPLACE their half visors with full cages just so they were ALLOWED to play lacrosse.
On the surface, this issue of full facial protection appears to be a complicated and controversial one.
We questioned players, coaches, and managers from other leagues as far up as the NHL, talked with parents, obtained medical opinions, looked at CHA injury data and looked at what other leagues were doing. In the end, the answer was obvious and
logic trumped tradition.
The game has changed. Players are bigger, stronger, faster and wear superior equipment. The one thing that hasn’t changed is the size of the ice surface. That means more and more collisions are occurring which results in more injuries.
Not only has the game changed but attitudes in the world have changed. Seat belts are now just part of driving. Policemen didn’t wear vests ten years ago – now a standard part of their uniform.
I think peer pressure and macho ego silence some players who secretly would feel safer, perform better and enjoy the game more if they were fully protected in the facial area. Jacque Plante was mocked for wearing the first goal mask and now goaltenders are mocked if their $1000 masks aren’t uniquely painted. Times have changed.
On another note, the unsolicited 100% support from the parents has been resounding –including one who is a dentist!!!!
Personally I lost 8 teeth, dozens of stitches and have 2 screws in my jaw after being cut from a skate. I quit counting how many times my nose got smashed up. The NCAA instituted full facial protection in 1981 – half way through my college career. There was the same backlash of opinion and I expect we might hear it for a while as well. It took about two weeks and the cages became a non-issue. Funny, I never had another facial injury while wearing a mask. It took all of three games without one to acquire my first stitches in the American Hockey League.
Last week we had a player receive a cut on his eyelid from a stick that came up under his visor. It was a totally innocent and non-malicious accident. I told him he likely won’t be able to see as well tomorrow as his eye will surely be swollen shut for a day or two . Then I asked him - what if it was shut for the next 70 years?
The hockey world moves slow. I commend our players for having the courage to do the right thing. There will be some trash talk on the ice but at least they will not have to explain to their children why Dad had a black eye, cut lip or no teeth for his high school graduation pictures.
In the end, there really was only one correct course of action.
Brad Tippett
Head Coach / Director of Hockey Operations
Peninsula Panthers
306-533-7134
bradtippett@ppanthers.bc.ca
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