Ok can anybody clarify the mouth guard rule for me once and for all?
Here is Rule 304(c) from the USA hockey rule book
(c) All players, including goalkeepers, in the Pee Wee through
Midget (including High School) and in the Girls/Women
12 & under through 19 & under age classifications are
required to wear a colored (nonclear) internal mouthpiece
that covers all the remaining teeth of one jaw, customarily
the upper.
For the first violation of this rule, the team shall be issued
a warning. A misconduct penalty shall be assessed to any
player or goalkeeper of that team for a subsequent violation
during that game.
It is strongly recommended, in all classifications, that all
players wear a mouthpiece form fitted by a dentist.
They mention the clear/color but nothing about the attached/not attached aspect of it? I could not find it anywhere.
Does this mean under Peewee's mouth guards are optional?
I want to make sure that when we hit a big tournament coming up, we don't have to run out for new mouth guards.
I can speak for boys rules that mouth guards are only required by Minnesota hockey for checking age players. Most districts make it mandatory that all players have a mouth guard, and some districts make them be attached to the helmet.
IMO most bantams/ high school players just have them in the helmet and don't wear them at all. I have only seen district 6 police the mouth guards this year and they seem to nail a kid on one team then with in 2 minutes they get someone on the other team even if their mouth guard is in just to keep it "fair"
3.5.3
An internal colored (non-clear) mouthpiece, covering all the teeth in the upper jaw is mandatory for all players (including the goalkeepers) in all age classifications. This mouthpiece must be an unaltered
one-piece unit, and attached to the facemask. (i.e. no string, etc.)
a. Penalty - Misconduct (10 minutes)
A little history on this rule...In the 70's I was watching my older brother play a bantam game a kid named Steve Hadrath...I believe from Columbia Heights collasped on the ice and choked to death on his mouthguard.
The rule issued as a result of that was to not cut off the mouthguard. It was years later that they started to attach them to the mask.
Pens4 wrote:A little history on this rule...In the 70's I was watching my older brother play a bantam game a kid named Steve Hadrath...I believe from Columbia Heights collasped on the ice and choked to death on his mouthguard.
The rule issued as a result of that was to not cut off the mouthguard. It was years later that they started to attach them to the mask.
thank you for that post. It's a great reminder. My youngest, a mite, hates wearing his mouthguard so I have, in the past, trimmed it down to next to nothing, with the intent of making it bigger each time it's replaced. From now on, he's just going to wear it. End of story.
JoltDelivered wrote:From the District 2 Governing Rules:
Section 3.5 Player Equipment
3.5.3
An internal colored (non-clear) mouthpiece, covering all the teeth in the upper jaw is mandatory for all players (including the goalkeepers) in all age classifications. This mouthpiece must be an unaltered
one-piece unit, and attached to the facemask. (i.e. no string, etc.)
a. Penalty - Misconduct (10 minutes)
A little more strict than the MH rules.[/b]
that means they can only wear the $2 mouthguard? Are the dentist fitted mouthguards one piece??
Minnesota Hockey requires ALL youth players to wear a mouthguard.
USA Hockey for some odd reason doesn't require it until Squirt or U12.
You should not cut down a mouth guard, buy a junior model for your mite.
Mouthguards don't protect you from concussions but they can make a difference in the severity of them. They can also protect a kid's teeth.
Even though they have a cage a stick can get in there or a hard collision can knock a cage into a kids face even at the no-check levels.
Please tell your kids not to wear their helmet straps loose like the college kids do and don't let remove the cage clips or second set of straps unless you like hanging out in the emergency room after games.
Helmets are a lot better they used to be when they are worn properly.
Your districts rules carry over into other districts if you are playing there. So if yours requires an attached mouth guard and the others doesn't, your player is still suppose have it attached.
Minnesota Hockey requires ALL youth players to wear a mouthguard.
Where is this rule stated? I could not find it anywhere other than USA Hockey.
It seems as if districts can decide if it needs to be attached or not........?
If you play in a district with different rules than your own, which takes precident?
You are required to follow your district rules no matter where you play. However most officials only work one district and do not know the rules for other districts so things can be difficult to inforce.
This is from the Minn Hock Hand book:
K. All players, including goalkeepers, are required to wear a colored (non-clear) internal mouthpiece, which covers all remaining teeth of one jaw, customarily the upper.
Per D6:
13.1.5
All players, including goaltenders, are required to wear a tethered colored (non-clear) mouth piece, which covers all the remaining teeth of one jaw. Non-compliance with this rule is a 10-minute misconduct penalty for a player’s first offense in a game and a game misconduct for the player’s second penalty in a game.
Here is an article from Stripes which is an online magazine sent to all USA Hockey registered officials:
Winter 2008 - Mouthguards, the elephant in the room
by Harvey T. Cohen
I was recently reading an issue of USA Hockey Magazine, and a half-page ad for a mouthguard company caught my eye. In the ad, a mom was quoted to the effect that her son had suffered a concussion because his mouthguard had popped out of his mouth when he was hit violently. The ad further went on to say that the brand of mouthguard advertised here was specifically designed to not fall out, thus providing more protection in the case of a jarring hit.
I can’t vouch for one company or another when it comes to a design which purports to minimize accidental ejection from the mouth. But I looked at the ad in a puzzling way, because I found it misleading.
The biggest problem in youth hockey with mouthguards is the overwhelming anecdotal evidence that for a majority of players who are required to wear them, they are not worn at all, or if they are worn, they are worn improperly (not over all of the teeth) or they have been chewed so much as to be totally ineffective. When worn properly, they are designed to protect the teeth and viewed as a serious piece of safety equipment. The other potential advantage of a mouthguard – to help minimize the concussive effects of one jaw slamming into the other – is still open for debate among many experts, but all agree wearing a mouthguard will definitely not cause more head injuries.
By rule, mouthguards are required for Pee Wee and above in the Youth classification (boys and girls), including all players (goaltenders as well). However, the rule is one of the most flagrantly abused in our game. Plainly put, kids don’t wear them and coaches and parents let them get away with it. What should on-ice officials do about it?
It is so rampant that if you try to enforce it as a referee, you quickly get a reputation as a referee who “doesn’t get it” and your officiating career and future game assignments are negatively impacted when it comes to post-season assignments, promotions, and other things you work very hard for. The argument that comes from many colleagues and leaders of officiating groups is, “we don’t go looking for it.” I counter that all you have to do is have your head up and you can see it, especially at a faceoff. Indeed many of our colleagues admit that they will NEVER call the infraction even if they see it.
Referees are in the middle of a tough situation in regard to enforcing the mouthguard rule. While the rules are clear, our own referees are not calling it because our own supervisors condone the inaction based on customers who imply that they don’t want it called. What are the risks to referees who ignore this rule and let the mouthguard infractions go un-penalized when they see them?
If one player gets injured and it is found later that the player did not have a mouthguard for the entire game while you were the on-ice official, don’t be surprised if any litigation that results comes at you as a prime target. What will you answer when asked whether you knew that little Johnny did not have a mouthguard for the entire game? I’m not so sure that any defense will work in your favor, which then puts you and all of your assets at risk in any civil law case. I love this game, but I am not willing to forfeit my house and all of my assets to some attorney who is more concerned with a money verdict than whether their own client had any fault in the matter. Negligence is a quick way to the poor house for any of us, even with insurance, because once an insurer finds that you did not follow rules you were fully aware of, your insurance can go out the window. To my knowledge there has never been a case like this, but who wants to be the first one on trial when it does happen?
Some referees try to mitigate the personal legal risk by asking the following to both head coaches during the pre-game warm-up, “Coach, do all of your players have all of the required protective equipment and are they wearing it in the proper manner?” Most coaches nod blankly to you and just say “Yes” but other coaches, knowing that this is a question more for legal protection than anything else will answer, “To the best of my knowledge.” Many referees take either answer as a way of getting themselves off the hook should something happen in the game itself, and they feel it puts the responsibility back on the coaches. I am not sure these assumptions are truly valid, but then again, I am not an attorney. What do you think?
There has been a rash of these infractions every year. One Midget goaltender, when confronted this season, calmly told me he had never worn a mouthguard in his entire career and was surprised to learn from me that he was required to wear one! That means that his Pee Wee coaches, his Bantam coaches and his Midget coaches never knew the rules, or if they did, they did not understand the serious nature of this infraction. It is as if the coaches are playing roulette with the health of their players. Furthermore, not a single referee on the ice through the years caught him at all until the game I did. It was in talking to him at a stoppage that it became clear to me that he had no mouthguard. In normal play, I don’t think I could have noticed any infraction due to the nature of his facemask.
The protective equipment rules for Canada do not require mouthguards at any age. I’m not sure why the Hockey Canada (HC) does not see the risk in the same way that USA Hockey does, but the difference exists. HC requires neckguards where USA Hockey does not (at least not yet). Please understand that when a USA Hockey team plays a CAHA team, the protective equipment rules for each team that apply are the ones from their own governing body. So the USA team needs mouthguards (PW and above) and should be penalized if they are missing while the Canadian team only needs neckguards (and they should be penalized if those are missing). This holds true no matter where the game is played – either in the USA or in Canada! USA teams do not have the right to omit the mouthguards when they play games in Canada.
This article is meant to wake up the hockey community. Either the entire community gets serious about this rule and this piece of equipment, or we should eliminate the rule entirely and live the way our Canadian peers do (at least for now). But a rule with no enforcement teeth (no pun intended) encourages the travesty that this rule has become. If we decide to get serious, all coaches, administrators, parents and players need to be educated about the rule and its enforcement. Then each of us as referees should be told to call the infraction all of the time without fear of reprisal. I would even suggest that we modify the rule book and eliminate the warning for this infraction, because a warning essentially gives the team a free pass with a safety issue that could have devastating consequences. But until any change happens, I caution you as referees to do what is right and to protect the kids and yourself in the best way you know how.
Pens4 wrote:A little history on this rule...In the 70's I was watching my older brother play a bantam game a kid named Steve Hadrath...I believe from Columbia Heights collasped on the ice and choked to death on his mouthguard.
The rule issued as a result of that was to not cut off the mouthguard. It was years later that they started to attach them to the mask.
thank you for that post. It's a great reminder. My youngest, a mite, hates wearing his mouthguard so I have, in the past, trimmed it down to next to nothing, with the intent of making it bigger each time it's replaced. From now on, he's just going to wear it. End of story.
I just dont get how that can happen .If you chew on it im sure thats how it happens but if you get a formed mouthguard it stays to your teeth . Attach to the helmate or not .
Really?? You are worried someone is going to sue you for not making his kid wear a mouth guard? You didn't get the bad rap because you "don't get it", you got it because your a TOOL! Harvey!
Don't be nieve people, look at the over-priced pictures at tournaments and see how many of your kids AREN"T wearing the mouth guard! So should your kid add that mouth guard to his bike helmet next? How can the pros get away with the nice form fitted ones you dentist will provide for a small fee? They get hit harder then any youth players.
Cut the mouth guard down to FIT your childs mouth, half don't wear them because they can't breath good enough with that hunk of plastic in thier mouth. Like the rule states "Cover the teeth".
mouth guards are important and should be worn. My son has worn one since he started playing mite travel hockey. like most kids he didn't like it at first and he gave the lame and FALSE excuse that he couldn't breathe. I made him wear it anyway. he got used to it aas ALL kids do when you make them wear it consistantly. he now doesn't know the difference. I encourage you to make them wear them from that young age not so much because mites really need them but more so because it gets them used to wearing it at a young age so when they get older it will not be a big deal. Oh and youngblood, Quackers fear of being part of litigation is very real, I work for an insurance company and while I persoanlly have not seen this in a youth hockey suit YET I have seen it in a youth football suit, guess who lost, if it happened there it is only a matter of time before it comes to hockey count on it
I have bought my kid a dentist formed mouthguard each year since he was a mite. (He's a freshman) Our district does not require it to be attached so the issues are easier. If the product is made properly, it sucks up against the teeth and the player can both talk and breathe well. It requires about $75 but that is way less than a single dentist visit will cost you. With the most minor of care, the mouthguard lasts for a full year.
If you truly don't think mouthguards are important, think about it this way. The pros cut corners on almost every piece of protective equipment, but the ones you see with full sets of (their own) teeth are also the ones you see with a proper mouthguard each and every game. . . hmmm. . . and if you answer "I just can't get little Johnny to wear it. . ." I bet if you gave him the choice (like I did) that no mouthguard equals no ice, Johnny would quickly adjust!! Please remember that as parents and coaches, we are in charge of working to make this as safe a game as possible!
youngblood08 wrote:Really?? You are worried someone is going to sue you for not making his kid wear a mouth guard? You didn't get the bad rap because you "don't get it", you got it because your a TOOL! Harvey!
Don't be nieve people, look at the over-priced pictures at tournaments and see how many of your kids AREN"T wearing the mouth guard! So should your kid add that mouth guard to his bike helmet next? How can the pros get away with the nice form fitted ones you dentist will provide for a small fee? They get hit harder then any youth players.
Cut the mouth guard down to FIT your childs mouth, half don't wear them because they can't breath good enough with that hunk of plastic in thier mouth. Like the rule states "Cover the teeth".
I did not right the artical or comment on it at all. It is simply an opinion of a writer for "Stripes" a magazine sent to USA Hockey officials.
Yep I noticed that, thats why I add the, Harvey! at the end as Harvey seems to be a ref that doesn't get it.
My sons wear the mouthguards that our dentist forms for them. By making a mold, if they lose it we just call and they make a new one. That has happened 2x's, when we were using the Shock Doctors they were chewed up, lost or never worn(by looking at the pictures during tournaments)
A couple years ago my son got a 10 and 2 for not having his mouthguard in. After the game I took him to the sports store and told him I'd buy him ANY one he wanted as long as it stayed in his mouth. We found this one:
