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A Heady Way To Play

Heads Up Hockey Program Aims At Making The Game Even Safer

By Carolyn Simon

Every time Bob O’Connor steps on the ice with a group of players, he preaches the word of the Heads Up Hockey program.

USA Hockey’s national coach-in-chief takes five minutes at the beginning of each practice to teach his players how they can play smarter and safer hockey.

First, he takes the players through a series of neck stretches and shoulder shrugs to strengthen their neck muscles. He then teaches them that the shortest distance to the puck may be a straight line, but it’s not the safest. That’s why he directs his players how to skate into the corner or the boards on an angle to get the puck. And finally, he teaches the finer points of angling an opponent off the puck.

These exercises and drills are repeated over and over at each practice, all to help work on skills that are as important as teaching crossovers or the proper technique of a wrist shot.

O’Connor hopes coaches across the country are instituting similar drills into their practices.

The Heads Up Hockey program, conceived of in the early-90’s by Dr. Alan Ashare, the chairman of USA Hockey’s safety and protective equipment committee, emphasizes what players can do to play safer, smarter and better hockey.

The first – and perhaps the most important – rule of Heads Up Hockey is, “Heads up, don’t duck!”

Wenever you see potential impact coming your way, whether it is another player, the boards or the goal post, you should never duck your head. When your head is ducked down, the head and neck are much more vulnerable to injury.

When your head is up, the neck is given maximum flexibility to endure impact without injury, because the natural curve of the neck is not compromised. When your head is down, the spine’s normal curve is straightened, and any impact can cause injury.

“People think it’s due to the speed and roughness of the game, but it’s not,” says Ashare, who is a staff physician at Caratis St. Elizabeth Medical Center of Boston.

Injuries can be suffered even at walking speed, he said.

But time is everything in hockey, and with the burdensome cost and limited availability of ice time, how can coaches be expected to devote even a few minutes of each practice to Heads Up Hockey, especially if they only have one hour per week with their players?

Travis Roy is one person who knows all about the value of time.

Nine years ago, Roy was a 20-year-old freshman at Boston University. He was given the call to skate on the first line with sophomores Mike Sylvia and current Buffalo Sabres star Chris Drury in the team’s season and home opener against the University of North Dakota.

Roy never had a chance to enjoy his college career. He had all the potential in the world, but it was gone in an instant. Just 11 seconds into his first shift in a Terriers’ uniform, Roy lined up an opponent, ready to deliver a monster of a hit. But Roy lost his balance, and went headfirst into the boards, shattering his fourth cervical vertebra and severely damaging his spinal cord.

Roy is a quadriplegic, and has no feeling below his shoulders and no movement in his legs or left arm. He has some use of his right bicep, which allows him to operate his wheelchair.

“My accident was poignant, an example of having my head down and falling into the boards,” Roy says. “If I had my head up, [my injury] could have been avoided.”

That’s why Roy has become a huge a supporter of the program, helping to get the word out to everyone who plays hockey.

“Heads Up Hockey is great phrase. It says it all. The knowledge of it could be as valuable as the drills and exercises,” says Roy.

“If it can save one kid from breaking his neck, it makes the program worthwhile as far as I’m concerned.”

To Roy’s point, players who practice the Heads Up Hockey exercises and drills are better prepared to avoid injury. According to Ashare, it is the repetition of the drills and exercises that are key.

“The player needs to get a natural reaction to hitting the boards or getting hit in open ice when heading toward another player,” O’Connor adds. “It’s natural to put the head down. But when the exercises and drills are done, it can become natural to keep your head up.”

Ashare used to advocate the Heads Up Hockey program for players age 11 and older, or when they reach the Peewee level, when checking is first introduced. But now he thinks that it’s useful to start the program as early as possible, to have the responses be as natural to the player as crossovers and stickhandling.

Attempts at getting the word out about the program are fourfold. There is a 13-minute video hosted by Ron Wilson, head coach of the San Jose Sharks, and featuring Paul Kariya, a brochure, a reference card, and posters featuring Olympians Brian Rafalski and Karyn Bye. All of the materials can be downloaded at HeadsUpHockey.com.

The posters were distributed to more than 1,700 rinks in the United States. They were well-received and displayed prominently in many of the rinks, says Pat Kelleher, the CEO of Serving the American Rinks, a joint venture between USA Hockey and U.S. Figure Skating.

The materials instruct players to hit the boards or goal posts with an arm, a leg, a stick, or anything but the head.

Players learn how to both receive and give a check. To receive a check, players should skate parallel to the boards, bend their knees, and skate through the check. And most importantly, players learn that they should never check an opponent from behind.

The video is shown as part of USA Hockey’s Coaching Education Program, primarily to coaches seeking their Level II (associate) certification. USA Hockey officiating clinics also discuss issues relating to Heads Up Hockey, in particular the enforcement of checking from behind penalties.

The success of the program cannot truly be measured, because it’s impossible to know how many injuries have been avoided. But Ashare has gone to great lengths to get the word out, and he has seen positive results.

“I see a kid sliding into the boards with his head up, and I ask him why he did it,” Ashare says. “ ‘I saw the poster,’ the kid says. It makes me feel terrific.”

Appeared in USA Hockey Magazine, September 2004