Some years ago Sports Illustrated ran an interesting article interviewing professional athletes and describing which sports they would least like to participate in besides their own. Former heavyweight boxing champ Joe Frazier, who fought three boxing matches with Muhammad Ali, and who got punched in the face plenty of times, chose hockey as the sport he most would not want to participate in. No way said smoking Joe, would he want a hockey puck hurled at his face at 100 miles per hour. He also commented that during his fights, there was one doctor. In these Hockey games, there is a whole hospital back there. Preventing major injuries in hockey is a prime function of hockey visors & face shields.
Top Rated Hockey Visors of April 2025
IN 2014, the Canadian Ophthalmological Society published a study that 149 major eye or orbital injuries occurred over several years and that there was a significant risk in eye injuries when visors and face shields were not worn.
Of the eye injuries that occurred, nearly 40 percent were from wild, deflected hockey pucks, and nearly another third of eye injuries were caused by high stick incidents. These eye injuries not only not only affected the athletes personally but cost the NHL approximately $33 million dollars in lost revenue.
In 2000, one hockey player was hit in the eye by a hockey stick resulting in an orbital tear, which later on turned into a detached retina. It took 7 eye surgeries before he was able to return to the ice.
Are face shields mandatory in the NHL?
Sadly, the answer is face shields or visors are partially mandated. In 2013, the NHL began requiring players with less than 26 NHL Games under their belts to wear visors. Have 27 games under your belt and you are free to ditch the visor. It makes no sense, but those are the rules.
Top Rated Face Shields of April 2025
What visors do NHL players use?
The straight cut visor and one that is fog resistant are the preferred qualifications for the vast majority of visors in the NHL. There are different brands of course, but as long as they have these two qualities, most players feel good to go. As to wearing full-face shields, pretty much only hockey players with injuries such as a broken jaw, wear a full-face shield. On the other hand, pretty much every amateur league in the world requires hockey players to wear a full face shield or at least a half visor and a face cage.
How should a hockey visor fit?
Whether we are talking about a junior full shield. a built-in helmet with visor, a senior or a junior or junior face shield, the important thing is that there be enough space to keep the visor from fogging. Not being able to see on the ice is just as dangerous as the risk to an eye injury when playing.
It is generally recommended that most junior players start out with a snug-fitting helmet and visor. Many younger players, need to worry about concussions as much as eye injuries, and if they get used to a tight-fitting unit when they are young, they will grow accustomed to it. A Senior often comes to use visors because league rules require it. Most seniors will want a little more space within the helmet as they adjust to wearing a helmet and fogging is quite often an issue. Many seniors find that the key to wearing a mask with a visor is learning to breathe differently. If you learn to breathe out with your mouth it will make it significantly easier to wear a visor.
You can also join to hockey club: hockeylife.club great forum about hockey.
