Music: {allcanada} Saskatoon Blades using helmet sensors to record hits

Friday, August 26, 2011

{allcanada} Saskatoon Blades using helmet sensors to record hits

The Saskatoon Blades are trying out something new during training camp this week — tracking the force of on-ice hits using helmet-mounted sensors.

Any time a player on the Western Hockey League team is hit, a chip records the strength of the hit and where it happened.

The information will be sent back to a researcher at the University of Alberta.

This team says any new information on concussions is a good thing.

"It's pretty important," said Connor Cox, a defenceman on the team. "You see lots of guys like [Sidney] Crosby in the NHL. There's three guys [on the Blades] that had concussions last year. I was one of them, so it's pretty important to learn a little bit more about it and to see how much you can take before you get a concussion."

The players will be wearing the chips all through training camp and the pre-season.

The official season starts in September.