Mark Messier is one of the greatest players to ever play in the National Hockey League and is often considered by many to be one of the greatest sports leaders of all-time.
Throughout his very impressive Hall-of-Fame career, 25 seasons in the NHL, Messier was not only the definition of a leader but a natural-born winner as well.
Messier’s credentials as a hockey player and ambassador for the game speaks for itself: 2007 Hall-of-Fame Inductee, six-time Stanley Cup champion, two-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner, two-time Lester B. Pearson Award winner, Conn Smythe Award winner, four-time First Team All-Star, Second Team All-Star, 16 NHL All-Star appearances, and his most recent, Lester Patrick Trophy.
Messier ranks second to only Wayne Gretzky on the NHL's all-time scoring list with 1,887 points.
He became the first player to captain two different teams to a Stanley Cup championship (1990 Edmonton Oilers and the 1994 New York Rangers).
Now retired from the game, Messier’s leadership abilities continue to stand strong, as he is currently leading the fight against concussions in hockey (in addition to his role with the Rangers organization as a Special Assistant to General Manager Glen Sather).
Messier has partnered with Cascade Sports to create The Messier Project, whose main mission is to tackle the growing concussion issue throughout the world of hockey by product development and public awareness campaigns.
The creation of the new Cascade M11 Helmet (pictured above), which is designed to protect the head and absorb impact, reducing the chance of getting a concussion or other serious injury, has the makings to be the future of helmet protection in the sport of hockey.
“I was approached by Cascade to come on board and help them with instituting their new technology into a helmet that would meet the criteria for the NHL players,” Messier said during an interview at the NHL Offices. “They thought that with my experience in having been a player and my background in hockey, that I could provide them with some useful information on what would make the helmet worthy for the NHL players to wear and what things were necessary for that to happen.”
“I felt it would be a great opportunity for me to give something back to not only the NHL, but also to the grassroots level of hockey and minor [league] hockey where concussions have become such a big epidemic as well; it’s not only at the NHL level, but in youth hockey. That is why I’m here and that is why I’m part of the process here and joined the team of Cascade to hopefully do something that hasn’t been done...which is long overdue in the helmet area.”
Since 1996, concussions have ended the careers of at least 33 players in the NHL. It continues to be a serious issue that constantly puts more and more players’ careers in jeopardy. According to independent sources used in The Messier Project, since 1997, an astounding number of over 759 players have been diagnosed with concussion related symptoms.
The M11 Helmet was created with the latest technology to not only increase the protection of the head and help absorb impacts, but it was also designed to look sleeker and improve the comfort level for players, which was a main criticism that the CHX Helmet had received back in 2007.
“We never wanted to jeopardize the integrity of the helmet with what the helmet ultimately looked like, Messier said. “So we had to make sure that we were able to come up with a shell that not only looked good, but also didn’t take away from the protection aspect. I think we were able to do that. It’s light, comfortable, and it’s got a lot of ventilation in it, so it breathes well.”
The new ratchet system, which is part of the Pro Fit element of the helmet, allows you to adjust the helmet for a perfect fit.
“Because the other helmets are adjusted so high, so you get pressure points, you get tight side-to-side, but you don’t get a helmet that fits all the way around the head,” Mary-Kay Messier, Vice President of Business Development, said of the ratchet system. “But this system actually brings the entire helmet in, not just the front-to-back.”
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