Warning line on hockey rinks may do more harm than good
Year-long study at Olympic Oval shows players vulnerable when they look down
The idea is to give hockey players a visual warning that they’re about to hit the boards. The finding, in a University of Calgary study published in the European Journal of Sport Science, is that a “look-up line” at the end of the rink may do more harm than good.
Researchers at U of C’s faculty of kinesiology were funded by USA Hockey, after the Look-Up Line Foundation asked the body to approve the line for all rinks in the United States. The foundation was started by Thomas E. Smith after he became partially paralyzed when he slid head first into the boards.
“His idea was that (the line) would act like a queue, a signal for a player being checked, so that it could increase their head angle and have a safer position when they were checked,” said lead researcher Joan Vickers.
The researchers tested the onemetre wide warning line for a year in the Olympic Oval hockey rink, with assistance from the university’s men’s hockey team. One end of the rink had the line. The other didn’t.
In one-on-one trials, the players wore eye trackers and devices that measure head angle, revealing the look-up line wasn’t having the intended effect. The players consistently looked down at the line and for longer than on regular ice, potentially making them more vulnerable to injuries.
One surprising and unexpected result of the $50,000 study, however, was that the players tended to skate further away from the boards where the look-up line was located.
“It may be beneficial to keep people away from the boards, or it may be harmful, only time will tell,” said Vickers.
She also said a player told her he didn’t like the line and felt he had to work harder to control the puck.
“If you put something unusual and different within the playing environment, that’s going to grab their attention and it’s also going to cause a difference in their behaviours,” said Vickers.
Kevin Kolbelka, executive director of Hockey Calgary, said he couldn’t comment on whether the look-up line would be beneficial, as he’s never seen a game or session where it’s been used, but he did say that Hockey Calgary has been taking measures to prevent injuries.
“Quite some time ago we mandated ‘stop’ signs on all jerseys,” said Kobelka in an email. The signs serve as a reminder for players to avoid checking each other from behind.
“We also continue to offer more non-body checking leagues. We have removed body checking in both bantam and midget from levels four and below, so basically about 50 per cent of our kids in the bantam and midget age groups play non-body-checking hockey.”
Vickers said more research would need to be done to determine whether using the look-up line would prevent injuries.
“There’s no other sport in the world that hits people against boards the way they do in ice hockey and it takes a toll, and so if something can be developed that shows it leads to a safer game, then I’m all for it.”
There’s no other sport in the world that hits people against boards the way they do in ice hockey.