Goalies Losing Teeth Not as Uncommon as Many Think
- MacKenzie Blackwood lost several front teeth after removing his chin guard, allowing a Ryan Pulock slap shot clocked at over 102 mph to strike his face directly.
- Even fully intact goalie masks can cause tooth damage when the bottom edge of the face opening is slammed upward into the teeth by a rising puck.
- Jake Allen had both front teeth capped after a wrist shot — not a slap shot — drove his mask into his teeth during a routine morning skate.
- Removing chin guards for comfort is a real risk factor for goalies at all levels, as Blackwood's injury illustrates.
- Goalie tooth injuries occur at NHL and amateur levels more frequently than the general public or even hockey commentators typically assume.
MacKenzie Blackwood got off to a sizzling start to his first ever Stanley Cup Playoffs, and his debut post-season performance for the Colorado Avalanche put him in the spotlight on the TNT post-game show, which not only gets you a question from Hall of Fame goalie Henrik Lundqvist, but a follow up about missing teeth from Paul Bissonnette.
That, quite naturally, led to a post from Spittin Chiclets about the missing chiclets:
“I used to take the chin guard out of my helmet so I could talk better and breathe better, and I didn’t think anything bad would happen but then one day, Ryan Pulock took a one timer hit me right in the mouth, and I was picking my teeth up,” Blackwood said.
Puluck, a New York Islanders defenseman, has a slap shot that has clocked in at 102.73 miles per hour in a game, according to NHL EDGE statistics, which might help explain how Blackwood lost so many of his front teeth. But the idea of goalies losing teeth — both in the NHL and lower levels — isn’t nearly as rare as Bissonnette implied with his question.
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