The golf club and the hockey stick have a similar L-shaped bend, but that may be the extent of the similarities. That is until now. Hockey equipment manufacturer CCM just announced a partnership with TaylorMade to create a line of hockey sticks that will be ‘best in sport.’ Continue reading CCM and TaylorMade Collaborate on Hockey Stick
Tag: Hockey
Iceman Buildith Skating Rink
This winter has been a bit of a bust for snow sports, and the lack of snow followed by warm spells has meant that it hasn’t been easy to make the traditional outdoor skating rink. If temperatures exceed 32 degrees, which they have been doing, the backyard ice rink is likely to become the backyard pond.
Now Wayne “Iceman” Doughty is looking at creating a rink that could still stay frozen when the temperature outside is 45 to 50 degrees. But this is no mere “build it and they will come” field – make that ice rink – of dreams, nor is his notion just a frozen pipe dream. The Ferrum, Penn. Resident knows a thing or two about ice, and while maybe not in his veins, it is his business. He runs a cooling, refrigeration and heating business and has created a rink that can freeze water pumped into the rink via a heat pump. His current backyard rink looks a bit like a pool, but is about 12 inches deep. Continue reading Iceman Buildith Skating Rink
G-Form Puts Its Money, iPhone Behind a Slapshot
These days it’s essential to have a case for your smartphone. If you’re active, you need to be sure your case is up to the task. The folks at G-Form went as far as using an iPhone for a hockey puck to prove the new G-Form X Protect Case is suitable for those of us whose phones feel the brunt of our workouts.
Continue reading G-Form Puts Its Money, iPhone Behind a Slapshot
Bauer RE-visits Hockey Helmet Design
Head injuries have become a serious concern in numerous sports, and Bauer Hockey is taking the issue head on so speak by revisiting the way helmets take hits. While most helmets are designed to address linear impacts a bigger risk says a Bauer study is the rotational forces that can contribute to head injuries.
Bauer’s RE-AKT helmet is the first hockey-specific helmet designed to manage the multiple type of hits that players take including rotational-force impacts, which have been scientifically proven to cause significant head injuries. To address this issue the Bauer RE-AKT takes on the problem with the SUSPEND-TECH liner, a unique patent-pending rotational impact protection system to protect the head from excessive rotational acceleration when the helmet is impacted. Continue reading Bauer RE-visits Hockey Helmet Design
Thursday Reading List (1/26/2012)
Outdoor Retailer Show Growing!
Welcome to the Thursday reading list. The trade shows continue, we’ve already seen new products come out of the Consumer Electronics Show and SHOT Show and it seems that this week’s Outdoor Retailer Show is outgrowing its home in Salt Lake City reports KSL.com, which noted (video above):
The Salt Palace Convention Center has expanded twice to host the show. The outdoor industry, and all the products associated with it, just keeps growing, and more and more companies want to be a part of this show every year. It’s kind of a nice problem to have, companies say.
Technology Reducing Sports Related Injury
One trend we saw very much this year was how technology is being used to reduce injuries. We’ve seen new improvements in helmets and sensors for football, baseball and hockey. We’ve seen helmets being used in skiing and snowboarding, as well as cycling of course. Continue reading Technology Reducing Sports Related Injury
Does Hockey Need a Better Brain Bucket?
Much has been written about football helmets and whether enough is being done to stop the increasing number of concussions among players? Well, now that football season is winding down, attention is being turned to hockey, which has also seen an increase in the number of professional players suffering from hits to the heads.
It was noted recently that Bauer had released the 9900 Helmet for hockey this season, which is the first to utilize PORON XRD technology. This feature is designed to absorb maximum impact without adding stiff or constricting bulk to the helmet. Moreover this is helmet is actually 10 percent lighter than the 9500 model. But the question remains is it enough?
Some don’t think so, and this includes Danny Crossman, an Ottawa entrepreneur and British Army veteran, who served in Iraq, Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. Crossman is now chief executive of Impackt Protective, and he’s working to develop a sensor that could be used on hockey helmets. Continue reading Does Hockey Need a Better Brain Bucket?
G-Form Goes Stealth with Padding
Some sports require protective gear. Said protective gear is often awkward due to its bulkiness, stiffness and other restraints from the movement of the sport at hand. Rhode Island-based G-Form has impact absorbing protection gear that goes on soft but turns stiff like armor when the pressure of an impact is experienced. Continue reading G-Form Goes Stealth with Padding
New “Impact Indicator” Being Added to Football Helmets for 2011 Season
Football season officially kicks off in a few weeks, and players in the United States and Canada will be taking to the field with the Impact Indicator as part of this season’s newest additions to the protective equipment. Fittingly it was developed by Battle Sports Science USA, as a way to measure the G-force and duration of hits (impact) sustained by an athlete’s head during play or activity in sports. It uses highly sophisticated technology and proprietary software, embedded in a helmet chinstrap, to signal the possibility of a head injury. This revolutionary new product will alert parents, referees, players and coaches to get a player off the ice or field for a medical assessment – maximizing treatment, recovery and possibly preventing subsequent brain injury.
In addition to making its way to the gridiron the Impact Indicator is being introduced as a safety device for use in the sports of hockey as well. Now players can keep their head in the game and protect it too!
Ice (Hockey) Fusion
There has been a long debate whether cold fusion could ever actually be a renewable source of energy. We’ll let that debate sit for now and instead look at a different kind of cool fusion technology. This isn’t exactly cold fusion but instead is ice hockey Fusion technology, as in Easton’s new Fusion EQ50 hockey sticks, which come from the Synergy line offering power, balance and energy control. We knew there was energy somewhere in this.
The new technology hockey sticks give players greater puck authority with an innovative feature called Visible Focus Weight Technology, which is there to redistribute weight to the impact area to help offer better control and keep the puck on the blade.
This is a step forward from the SE16 stick, and the Easton EQ50 features a customizable weighted end cap for improved balance (customizable from 6.5 to 26.5 grams), and features an adjustable swing weight via four 5-gram end weights inside. The stick also features a Kevlar wrapped shaft to protect it from impacts and to help dampen vibrations. The Easton EQ50 is available now for $210, a small price to pay for this cool Fusion!
Video after the jump Continue reading Ice (Hockey) Fusion
Will the Machines Take Over… the Ice?
We continue to have fears that our reliance on technology could lead to the machines taking over, but maybe that is because we watch too many Terminator and The Matrix films (even the bad ones). Now there is news that the machines might not actually be in the process of taking over all mankind, maybe they’re just focused on the ice. Hockey Robotics is a newly created company born out of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and they specialize in hockey stick design, performance and durability testing.
Thus they haven’t actually created a robot hockey player, but rather the first very dynamic hockey stick testing robot, which is reportedly capable of properly mimicking the professional hockey slap shot. The company plans to launch this robot testing tool this summer.
So far Hockey Robotics has garnered the support of SBK Hockey, a leading Quebec-based hockey brand, and the company offers standardized hockey testing services to other brands, manufacturers, leagues and teams. But hockey players should worry that the robots will take them off the ice… at least for now!
Endless Winter Coming To End, Time for Endless Ice
This winter will end; at least we think it will. Spring actually sprung last week at least officially, and much of the country should see warmer weather this week. Thats good news, unless you happen to play hockey. While there are always indoor rinks and arenas, there is another option, namely Endless Ice.
This company has many products to keep players on the ice year round, including advanced training systems and even home based models. This also a real bonus for teams such as the El Paso Rhinos, who used the system to train for the Western State Hockey League Championship series, where the weather isn’t always agreeable for hockey – and rarely outdoors. The system works much like a treadmill, but with a synthetic surface that replaces traditional ice. In addition to just skating in place, a computer analyzes the player’s form and technique and provides feedback to help optimize performance on real ice.
Endless Ice is currently used throughout the United States, in the Czech Republic and Germany, and even throughout Canada, where winter is even more endless than in parts of America. But the technology is there so players can get in the skate training even if they can’t hit the ice.
New Brain Bucket Developed for Little League, Introduced at “The Dome”
For years batters have walked up to the plate whilst wearing protective headgear. Now soon pitchers may be required to take the mount with helmets on as well. This wee Easton-Bell Sports announced the development of new headgear at the Helmet Technology Center, internally known as “The Dome.”
Easton-Bell Sports CEO Paul Harrington, along with Little League International President Stephen Keener, California Interscholastic Federation Executive Director Marie Ishida and Marin County high school baseball player Gunnar Sandberg in Scotts Valley, introduced a new helmet prototype. The Easton-Bell Sports pitching helmet prototype uses lightweight energy managing materials to provide protection to the most vulnerable areas of the head, without compromising comfort or performance. The helmet is made of expanded polystyrene polycarbonate, which is attached to a comfortable liner and elastic strap. Continue reading New Brain Bucket Developed for Little League, Introduced at “The Dome”