Safety Stars: Players Who Fought to Make the Hard-Hitting Game of Professional Hockey Safer

Gr 4 Up—In 1959, Jacques Plante of the Montreal Canadiens became the first goalie to wear a mask in an NHL game after a slapshot left him with stitches in his face and nearly put him out of the competition. But it was not until the 1970s that masks became common, and it took a series of eye injuries before goalies began wearing the now-common helmet and cage style of protection. Irwin traces this trend along with several other advances in technology, rules, and playing style that have made the once ruthless sport less threatening to athletes. Readers learn about Bill Masterton of the Minnesota North Stars, who died from a traumatic brain injury after hitting his head on the ice in a 1968 game (though it was not until 1979 that the NHL began requiring helmets), and Brendan Shanahan, a three-time Stanley Cup champion with Detroit who later served as the NHL's director of player safety and gained a reputation as an unbending enforcer of safety rules. Brief sidebars offer light but informative perspectives on personalities and concepts. The book closes with a lengthy acknowledgements section that lists sources, but there are few specific citations. Some later chapters detail health concerns that are unrelated to hockey. Still, this is an intriguing take on the history of the game and brings attention to the increasing focus on player safety and health.