Returning Stitcher

Depends, he likes to wear them low..... A medium might work. I'll have to get him and the tape measure together later.

SNIP

Ouch! poor boy! did you ever get the blood out the gear. The ice had to repaired? I know that a game got delayed when someone got a massive bloody nose and leaked all over the ice. DS tried on 8-9 different helmets before deciding the I-Tech fit best and the only one locally in the right size was damaged and was for fitting purposes only. It was a special order item and took WEEKS to arrive. (ordered in May, arrived in September - they only do a run every few months). I'm hoping to hold off on DD until fall and we'll have fun fitting her then.

DS is headed to Nike Bauer in Greenland over vacation week.

Actually I was working on the other sheet when it happened. My game ended earlier, and I had already changed and was watching the last couple of minutes of his and noticed when he left the rink some parents were leaning over to ask him how he was (stadium rink). It was a Bantam AA game. He was supposed to be lining a Midget U-18 game after. Didn't look so right to me. Then I hear his partner say "umm, maybe we should look at your eyes or something, you were slurring your speech for a bit" - at which point I perk up "HUH?" Plus, his skating looked not as elegant as usual. DH says "E's a medic - let her" and we all go into the ref room. This one has a separate actual bathroom - so we walk in there while the audience of about 5 guys are sitting in the main room - I sit DH down on the commode, take the helmet off

- and the helmet is full of blood! Nice. Anyhow - I just leaned out and asked if anyone had some butterflies, or go get my jump bag from the car, and by the way - you need another linesman. Footnote - you can see the plastic deformation in the helmet - as in it is no longer good had permanent crazing from flexing beyond the elastic limit, even though it didn't break open.

So, I closed it up as best I could, and we went to the ER, and they stapled him up - only a little bit of hair shaved off, and then we went to ....play hockey. DH had to just sit and watch with an ice-pack on his head. I played. Good hockey story. I did yell at all the guys for letting him finish the game when he was slurring his speech - due to the minor concussion. Evidently he clicked the rear of his skate as he pivoted going backwards near the bench and went down hard - I do believe there was some traffic involved as well. When he got up, fell back to knees - the team gave him some water, they waited a minute or two and the game went on - that's my boy - being a boy!

Reffin, we get to clean up a lot of ice drops. Not so bad. And I'm sure it came out of the ref gear. Actually, there is a USAH rule that if you get blood on the uniform, etc from an injury - got to leave the ice to have it decontaminated, etc. No cuts, etc allowed to be uncovered and bleeding on the ice. So, good idea to have some alcohol wipes, bleach solution, something for unis at the bench, and we always have band-aids.

Only times I've seen really bad blood on the ice - a guy I know from hockey

- at a public skate - in shorts - bad, bad thing to do. Doing a cross over

- cut his lower thigh with a skate when trying to do a crossover. I, and another gal, were right there - and literally I had hands on his pumping out femoral artery within seconds. It was a huge puddle - the skate guard came and got sick - adding to the mess. But, we pretty much saved him with quick compression, putting some bandages on, and a quick ambulance. I think he ended up with something like 48 stitches. We met his wife at the ER - and then the guy made us convince his wife it was okay forhim to play hockey. We still tell him what a goof he was to be skating in shorts - in pants that wouldn't have happened. And when DH got the puck in the face (breaking his orbital bone, slicing upper eyelid and lower) - off the goalie, goal post and into him - when coaching. On very fresh ice - that was a pool like something from the shining. It's not so bad if the ice is at all cut up - much worse if fresh.

Just words for the wise - if you ever, ever get cut on a skating rink - make sure that your tetanus is up to date, and if not - get a tetanus shot. The rink surface has an incredible amount of bacteria.

Well, sounds like fun. LMK about the other stuff. ellice