>Mark;
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>Our son plays goalie in a local Hockey League. I call the goalie position “target”. Some of the San Jose Shark players also play in this League and bring some excitement to the games. The Shark players are very civilized and have great talents.
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>Our son bought a $1200 helmet to protect himself. Another player who is very aggressive (not one of the Sharks) stood about ten feed away and for kicks during practice hit the puck hard at our sons head. The helmet split and shattered. Ten seconds into practice and good by helmet! It could have been good bye son!
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>What a great game – even at the amateur level! By the way the guy I just described likes to injure other players and does a good job of it. What a great game!

Holy cow! Sounds like the mask may have been defective or the puck hit at the perfect spot. At least it did its job, but I am thinking the coach should be conducting practices a little differently instead of allowing pot shots at goalies.

The use of overblown pads is something that needs to be changed, at least in the NHL. As for the masks, I was astonished that goalies used to not wear any and thought they were crazy for not doing so. Requiring helmets on all players is a "no-brainer" as well. Too bad the eye guards are not mandatory as well.