Hockey: First Fatality

The game was 4 min. old when Bill Masterton, 29-year-old center for the Minnesota North Stars, sped across the blue line toward the Oakland Seals’s goal. A first-year man in the National Hockey League, Masterton drove to within 25 ft. of the Oakland net, then flipped a pass to Wing Wayne Connelly. Most of the fans, players and officials in the Bloomington, Minn., arena were too busy following the puck to see exactly what happened to Masterton next. Only a few watched his skates slip out from under him as he toppled backward. His head hit the ice, and blood gushed from his nose and ears. A teammate who rushed to his aid heard Masterton murmur, “Never again. Never again.” Then he lost consciousness. Thirty hours later, Bill Masterton died from what doctors described as a “massive brain injury.” He was the first player to be killed in the 51-year history of the N.H.L.

Fans can only marvel at the N.H.L.’s escape from a longer fatality list. When professionals do battle on ice, wearing knife-edged skates, wielding sticks and shooting a piece of hard rubber around at speeds up to 120 m.p.h., the wonder is that anyone survives.

Skull, Neck & Eye. Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings estimates that he has had 500 stitches taken in his face, and it took a delicate operation to save Howe’s life after he suffered a fractured skull during the 1950 season. Five years ago, Montreal’s Lou Fontinato crashed into the boards with such force that he broke his neck. Fontinato never played again—nor did Detroit’s Doug Barkley, who was blinded in the right eye by an opponent’s stick in 1966. Last year, players from the six teams that then made up the N.H.L. missed 662 games because of injuries.

Over the years, hockey players have added shoulder pads, kidney pads, shin guards, ankle guards, instep guards—until they now wear something like 25 lbs. of protection. But few wear anything to shield the face and head. Masterton’s death has sparked demands that pros wear helmets—as do players in most amateur leagues. “I’m going to take a careful look at the possibility of wearing one,” says Chicago Black Hawks Star Bobby Hull, and his teammate, Stan Mikita, insists that he will wear one “from now on—so I can spend next summer cutting grass instead of pushing up daisies.”

But other pro players complain that helmets are hot and cumbersome. What’s more, says ex-Chicago Coach Johnny Gottselig: “A guy wearing a helmet invites attention. Players are apt to give him a few extra raps on the skull, figuring they won’t hurt him. “