Smart Sensors and Smart Fit: Analysis of Ice Hockey Equipment and Player Performance

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Bauer Hockey Ltd. (Bauer) in partnership with researchers at McGill University's Ice Hockey Research Group (IHRG) propose a series of studies to develop Smart Sensors to be worn by players and/or incorporated within ice hockey equipment to identify players' optimal performance metrics and Smart Fit technologies to optimize and customize helmets to individual head shape anthropometrics. This ambitious five-year collaborative proposal will provide unique performance measurement tools to Bauer to augment their products' design, material and manufacturing properties for optimal function as well as to offer coaches and athletes in the ice hockey community to enhance training.Specifically, our goals are to explore the feasibility and accuracy of using real-time Smart Sensor technologies to track players' body and equipment's function mechanics for ice hockey skating, stick and contact skills, as well as, further develop Smart Fit tools to assess optimal head-to-helmet interface. These studies will provide meaningful user / product specific information needed by Bauer's R&D in Canada to improve their company's competitive market edge, contribute to on-field and off-field sports analytic goods research, as well as generate accessible, real-time tools and knowledge to enhance athlete training, skill development and injury risk reduction. HQP will work closely with Bauer R&D on specific projects (from project concept inception, prototype sensor designs, fabrication, programing data storage, retrieval, analysis, reporting, field testing, as well as research designs to obtain users' performance measure norms and distributions). The research plan will align graduate students' thesis residency with a series of projects distributed over a 5 year period.