Hockey helmet

A hockey helmet is worn by players of ice hockey, inline hockey, and bandy to help protect the head from potential injury when hit by the puck, sticks, skates, boards, other players, or the ice.

Hockey helmets grip the head from inside by cupping the back of head, or the occipital protuberance. Helmet manufacturers will have a chart that relates their helmet sizes to head measurements.

Most helmets have tool-free adjustments, but on older models, the helmet size is adjusted by loosening the screws on the side to slide the front portion forward or back.

The shell of a hockey helmet is generally made of a substance called vinyl nitrile that disperses force from the point of contact, while the liner may be made of either vinyl nitrile foam, expanded polypropylene foam, or other material to absorb the energy, to reduce the chances of concussion.

The first player to regularly wear a helmet for protective purposes was George Owen, who played for the Boston Bruins in 1928–29. In 1927, Barney Stanley presented a prototype of a helmet at the NHL's annual meeting. It was quickly rejected.

Helmets appeared after the Ace Bailey–Eddie Shore incident on December 12, 1933, as a result of which Bailey almost died and Shore suffered a severe head injury. After that, Art Ross engineered a new helmet design and when the Boston Bruins took to the ice in a game against the Ottawa Senators, most of the players donned the new helmet. Most Bruins players didn't wear the helmet after the game, with the exception of Eddie Shore, who wore it the rest of his career. In the 1930s, the Toronto Maple Leafs players were ordered to add helmets to their equipment. A few minutes into the first game with the new helmets, the popular King Clancy famously flung his off. The helmets were generally unpopular with fans, media, and other players. A few players, such as Des Smith, Bill Mosienko, Dit Clapper, and Don Gallinger continued to don helmets.

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