Edmonton Oilers star forward, Taylor Hall, was sliced by an ice skate prior to their NHL game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday. Hall was not wearing a helmet during the warmup, something which is somewhat of a tradition in National Hockey League games, when he stepped on a puck by accident and then colliding with defenseman Ladislav Smid, and then sliding to a halt in front of teammate Corey Potter, who clipped Hall with his skate as he tried to hurdle the both of them. 

The 20-year-old required 30 stitches to close the wound which stretched from his eyebrow to his scalp, and is sporting a black eye. Despite this horrific incident, players are still saying they will continue to not wear helmets during the warmup due to the fact ever since they’ve been a little kid they’ve wanted to skate around without a helmet on in the warmup. 

This is absolutely ridiculous as surely safety comes first in a combat sport as dangerous as ice hockey. There has been calls to omit fighting from the game, saying it causes too many injuries and isn’t necessary. I would argue that it is more important to enforce people to wear helmets in warm-up before even considering banning fighting. You might think the same after seeing this picture of Hall:

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=taylor+hall+warmup&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&sa=N&rls=en&biw=1229&bih=814&tbm=isch&tbnid=0x0We8yM_xD3-M:&imgrefurl=http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/19/mom-i-look-like-frankenstein-taylor-hall-on-gruesome-head-injury-with-photo/&docid=v3rPK8BUAIixjM&imgurl=http://nbcprohockeytalk.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/taylor-hall1.jpg&w=630&h=473&ei=1YIYT5uVLM7asgaR05nIDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=785&vpy=94&dur=543&hovh=174&hovw=232&tx=104&ty=105&sig=103242172862180375692&page=1&tbnh=133&tbnw=175&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0

http://www.lowryllp.com

http://www.notaryengland.co.uk