Instead of a goalie mask the goalie would wear a space helmet with mirrored exterior. You couldn't see where the goalie was looking. Inside the mirrored ball, the mask is steadied against the head with structured padding.
-- JesusHChrist, Jan 23 2013

This is what my locals are wearing this year... http://images.googl...:0,i:98&tx=59&ty=81
...and I think that it's about which direction the quarterback's head is facing - if you appear to be watching one player but actually have your eyes on a different one, the pass defense can get fooled. [normzone, Jan 23 2013]

So, you have an incentive to aim at the face mask? Cool.
-- UnaBubba, Jan 23 2013


Watching the eyes is mostly for defensive (American) football players, isn't it? The goalie's eye's (hockey? soccer?) matter? (link)
-- normzone, Jan 23 2013


I'd be surprised if you had time to watch the goalie's eyes in ice hockey. I played field hockey and it all happens way too fast for longing gazes and significant eye contact.
-- UnaBubba, Jan 23 2013


Seconded. I won't claim any great athletic prowess, but like 97% of the male population of Maine, I played ice hockey from youth leagues through high school and the only eye contact took place before the puck dropped. Hockey happens way too fast to be looking at the other guy's eyes.
-- Alterother, Jan 23 2013


True that. I recall seeing a hockey ball (5.5 oz, same as a cricket ball) being clocked at 114mph or 185kmh, in a test, by a cop with a radar gun. Best to try to watch the ball, lest it connect with you.
-- UnaBubba, Jan 23 2013


I was a defenseman anyway. The opposing players weren't people, they were obstacles.
-- Alterother, Jan 23 2013


I always thought of them as targets. I was already 6ft and 180lbs when I was 16-17. If I couldn't hit them with the ball then I tried to hit them with me.
-- UnaBubba, Jan 23 2013


That was my style in a nutshell. Why fiddle around trying to take the puck away from my opponent when it's so much more fun to take my opponent away from the puck?
-- Alterother, Jan 23 2013


I was an ice hockey goalie for 30 years, I coached for 13 years and I don't recall once where anyone ever said you need to look your opponent in the eye. I think the Gretzky era would confirm that. He knew where every player on the ice with him - teammates AND opponents - was at all times, usually without even looking.

From a purely practical standpoint, I doubt this mask would work without an extensive ventilation system. I always wore a helmet & cage combination and I would sweat like crazy in that. A fully enclosed mask wouldn't allow for airflow or evaporation, and it would be utterly futile to try to yell instructions to your teammates. Go stick your head in a fishbowl and try it out! (but first empty out the fish and the water) : P
-- Canuck, Jan 23 2013


I so wish you hadn't issued the warning at the end of that anno, [Canuck].
-- UnaBubba, Jan 23 2013


Hockey could be improved in so many ways, but especially by helmet modifications. It hasn't just been a few times that I've said hockey needs two way radios for better on ice communication. I speculate that the secret society of radio and tv commentators, a powerful lobby, keeps radios out of helmets for fear that the players own communications will become the game's new narration, and they will become obsolete no longer able to define the popular discourses that ultimately decide important elections.
-- rcarty, Jan 24 2013


// Hockey could be improved in so many ways //

I'm sorry to tell you this, but you are wrong. The Game of Hockey is perfect in every way.
-- Alterother, Jan 25 2013



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