Sam Ward’s high-profile injury in 2019 added urgency to considerations as to whether or not anything can be done to increase player safety in hockey, writes Chris Maloney from the USA

While wearing protective equipment can prove to be very helpful in reducing an injury-prone area of the hockey athlete’s body, for some, the only approach to reducing injuries is to engineer away the problem — gloves for hands, mouth guards for teeth, helmets for goalkeepers. They think there must be a player safety product to fit every possible problem — real or perceived.