@article{ref1,
title="Effect of penalty minute rule change on injuries and game disqualification penalties in high school ice hockey",
journal="American journal of sports medicine",
year="2019",
author="Kriz, Peter K. and Staffa, Steven J. and Zurakowski, David and MacAskill, Matthew and Kirchberg, Tyler and Robert, Kyle and Baird, Janette and Lockhart, Greg",
volume="47",
number="2",
pages="438-443",
abstract="BACKGROUND:: Recent efforts have focused on eliminating dangerous hits in ice hockey. Fair play rule changes have successfully reduced injury risk but have not been widely implemented. <br><br>PURPOSE:: To determine the effect of a penalty infraction minutes (PIM) rule change in high school boys' ice hockey on injuries and game disqualification penalties. STUDY DESIGN:: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. <br><br>METHODS:: Injury data were collected from 2 Rhode Island hospital systems and game/penalty data through the Rhode Island Hockey Coaches Association website. Participants included high school boys' hockey varsity players aged 13 to 19 years presenting to 5 emergency departments for hockey injuries during 6 seasons (December 2012-April 2018). Rule change for the 2015-2016 season implemented varying suspensions for players accumulating ≥50 PIM and ≥70 PIM during regular season and playoffs. Injuries were classified as body checking or non-body checking related, and injury rates pre- versus post-rule change were compared via the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel chi-square test with the odds ratio (OR) to measure risk reduction. <br><br>RESULTS:: During the study period, 1762 boys' high school varsity hockey games were played. Of 134 game-related injuries, 82 (61.2%) were attributable to body checking. The PIM rule change was associated with a significant reduction in all injuries (OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.35-0.86; P =.008), concussion/closed head injury (OR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.23-0.85; P =.012), and combined subgroups of concussion/closed head injury and upper body injury (OR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.31-0.80; P =.003). Game disqualification penalties per season were not significantly reduced following the rule change, occurring in 5.2% of games before the rule change and 4.4% of games after (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.54-1.31; P =.440). <br><br>CONCLUSION:: Implementation of a statewide PIM restriction rule change effectively reduced the mean number of game-related injuries per season among high school boys' hockey varsity players.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0363-5465",
doi="10.1177/0363546518815886",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0363546518815886"
}