Michael Liambis hit

"Erie Otters' Mike Liambus blasts Kitchener Rangers' rookie Ben
Fanelli into the end boards breaking his helmet, fracturing his skull
and breaking facial bones in the process. In an October 30th game in
Kitchener."

Very unfortunate and scary incident. Hope Fanelli makes a full recovery.

Yeah, that was boarding *and* charging, and completely unnecessary. However it appears that the worst part -- the fractured skull, is from falling backwards on the ice with his helmet off.

The book should be thrown at Liambas. Frankly, if he never plays again I won't shed a tear. But how did the helmet come off? They wear full shields, so there's the chin-piece that should hold it firmly in place. Did the straps break or did the snaps come undone? Maybe it's time to go back and re-visit the design. Certainly, in the NHL, it's time to re-visit the regulations for neck straps that look more like long necklaces.

BTW, Fanelli is listed as critical but stable.

OK, looking at it a bit more, Fanelli *did* turn just before the hit. He didn't turn to avoid the hit, just to reverse the puck, and, besides, I'll never blame an injury on the player being hit. Still, that's a bit of an extenuating circumstance.

Still, Liambas charged (almost all the way from the blue line) and no-matter how fast hockey is, when you see someone's name and number you back off. Just a slight change of direction, no follow-through with the arms, and it would have still been a hard hit, but not devastating enough to knock the helmet off.

It looked like a head shot to me. I've only watched it that one time though.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:It looked like a head shot to me. I've only watched it that one time though.

Edit: OK not a head shot but it was pretty much the same result.

I wonder if the fractured skull is from his head hitting the glass. His head is whipped into that glass unbelievable fast, almost like a sling shot action from the hit. He's still in hospital.

Fractured skull is from his helmet coming off and his head hitting the ice. I said this before in the Phanuef hit thread, if someone ever gets hurt or killed its because their helmet comes off because it was strapped up properly... almost happend.

"In all seriousness, there wasnt anythng about that hit that was not avoidable on Okposo's end. Honestly, with his Helmet being as loose as it was and him having that sense of invincability, Okposo's lucky he isnt dead from his head bouncing off the ice. A concussion sucks but maybe he will learn. Just stupid and I'm sure his coach and everyone around is going to tell him that."

That's what I said in the Okposo/Phanuef thread. Hockey players are literally the dumbest athlete's on the planet.

Neely, in this particular case, the guy is wearing a helmet with a full face shield. Unless I am mistaken (and I may very well be) the shield comes with a chin-guard which pretty much forces the helmet to sit tightly on the player's head. There is no "loose neck-strap" possibility here. So it appears that the force of the hit was sufficient to dislodge the snaps at the ends of the chin strap.

On my kid's helmet the chin strap snaps are so hard that he usually needs help putting them on and off. One time, during a game, the trainer noticed one was loose and tried to quickly fix it up at the bench (this is peewee 'C' so the coach didn't bother pulling him back and replacing him with another player). Anyhow, the trainer could not snap it on quickly and ended up -- after struggling for about 10 seconds -- pulling my kid back on the bench and putting someone else out. All of this to say that these snaps *can be* very, very hard to put on/off. Maybe the design of the snaps is not the problem, but they do wear out (my son's are fairly new).

It's a 1/2 visor, no full shield. Either way, all helmets have a chin strap, there is no excuse for the helmet coming off your head, they are designed that way. I feel awful for the kid and that type of hit in The OHL is illegal, but frig, some blame has to go to the kid for his helmet popping off like that along with about 1/2 of the guys in The NHL.

It's such an avoidable thing if you just have your helmet done up properly!

That chin strap wont come undone on a new/year or two old helmet. Run one over with a truck and that helmet's chin strap will still be done up.

N4L wrote:Fractured skull is from his helmet coming off and his head hitting the ice. I said this before in the Phanuef hit thread, if someone ever gets hurt or killed its because their helmet comes off because it was strapped up properly... almost happend.

I've never understood why guys wear their straps loose. I remember a few NHl'ers being asked about that and they said "because it looked cool". They didn't want it all tight around the chin.

I agree though, a properly tightened chin strap will keep that helmet on no matter how hard you get hit.

I'd like to see them check the chin straps before every game and make them tighten them up.

When I played rugby, we'd all have to line up on the 22-meter line on our knees with our hands behind our backs and our mouth guards in our hands. The ref would walk the line and check all the metal cleats to make sure none were sharp and broke the rules, and that we had a proper mouth guard and nothing on our hands like a ring or watch.

shabbs wrote:

N4L wrote:Fractured skull is from his helmet coming off and his head hitting the ice. I said this before in the Phanuef hit thread, if someone ever gets hurt or killed its because their helmet comes off because it was strapped up properly... almost happend.

I've never understood why guys wear their straps loose. I remember a few NHl'ers being asked about that and they said "because it looked cool". They didn't want it all tight around the chin.

I agree though, a properly tightened chin strap will keep that helmet on no matter how hard you get hit.

I'd like to see them check the chin straps before every game and make them tighten them up.

When I played rugby, we'd all have to line up on the 22-meter line on our knees with our hands behind our backs and our mouth guards in our hands. The ref would walk the line and check all the metal cleats to make sure none were sharp and broke the rules, and that we had a proper mouth guard and nothing on our hands like a ring or watch.

Yeah they still do that in rugby. And in one of my adult beginner hockey games, a teammate was sent off the ice until he got a strap on his helmet (it was either his chin strap or his cage strap he was missing). So the ref's do look out for this.

Some kids also go for this "goon cage"look where they have a gap in the cage and helmet, where the chin is inches from the cup. All for look, and nullifies the safety and integrity of the helmet and cage.

Apparently, Mike's been suspended for the remainder of the season and the playoffs for this hit.

http://www.ontariohockeyleague.com/ohl-announces-disciplinary-action---game-of-october-30-2009---erie-otters-at-kitchener-rangers-p138647

posted this in another thread..

Branch to be on FAN 590 in 20 minutes