What’s To Blame, The Hit Or The Glass?

One other debate that has started up is over the nature of the actual boards that arenas are using. Jobing.com uses ‘seamless glass’, which differs from the normal seamed glass that the majority of hockey arenas use. Seamless glass is designed to speed the game up, yet detractors say that it’s lack of give and flexibility opens up players to injury. Some are saying that’s what happened with the Prucha injury.

Travis Hair of Five For Howling, begs to differ:

I don’t really find that the seamless glass has that much of a difference here than glass anywhere else. While many say that the glass is harder having seen the hits up close they don’t seem to be any worse than getting hit against any other glass I’ve seen. In fact this is the first time in recent memory that I can recall someone being stretchered off for a head injury against the glass at Jobing.com Arena. Justin Williams was taken off earlier in the year when he blew up his knee, but every other time there’s been a head injury it was in the open ice, not due to the glass. And as I’m writing this @patty_in_dallas brings up a good point on twitter that Prucha didn’t hit the glass itself, but a metal stanchion where the penalty box is. Seamless glass or no, that injury still happens.