1.)  First, congratulations on being named the General Manager of Hockey Canada’s 2010 IIHF World Hockey Championship team!

Thank you!  It is an incredible opportunity and challenge to do something special for Hockey Canada.  Canadians are passionate about hockey, so as a player, representing my country always held a special significance.  I am now looking forward to the challenge on the management side to position our team to compete for gold and represent Canada with pride.

Over the coming weeks and months, I will be looking to name a management staff, a coaching staff and then identify players that will give Canada the best chance at winning gold in May 2010.

2.)  Speaking of General Managers, recently you and your sister Mary-Kay had an opportunity to present to the NHL General Managers on behalf of The Messier Project and the M11.  Can you tell us a bit about those meetings and the feedback you received?

It was a tremendous honor and opportunity to present The Messier Project and the M11 to the NHL General Managers.  They have a lot at stake – first and foremost, protecting their players.  However they also have a business to run and millions of dollars are lost over the course of an NHL season as a result of games missed due to injury.

Everybody is paying attention and it is very positive to see all the game’s greatest influencers working to find a solution.  I think all the teams were very open-minded and interested in learning about the M11 and Seven Technology.

I am very proud of the M11 and the mission of The Messier Project is very personal to me.  But I also recognize that this is just one part of a finding a real solution.  We need all the stakeholders to come together to really address the issue of concussion in hockey.

Change is not easy and it takes time, but when you consider the consequences and if you truly believe in the mission, then you have to be persistent and stay the course.  Overall, we are off to a great start as the response to The Messier Project and the M11 has been overwhelming!

We have a few NHL players wearing the M11 and I know they love it.  They have been exceptionally supportive and have really embraced the greater initiative to not only make the choice to protect themselves better, but in doing so, also set a great example for our youth – which at the end of the day is at the very heart of our mission and why I got involved in this issue.

Harvard University came on board right from day one and that has been a tremendous experience – they too have taken a leadership role and I am proud to have them on my team.

Hockey Canada, the NHL and the NHLPA have all been supportive, as well as many of the State divisions of USA Hockey.

We now have dealers across North America who have partnered with us to make the M11 available.  We can’t keep up with all the new teams joining The Messier Project!  Take a look at “The Evolved” section of our website for a list of the players and teams that are wearing the M11.

And we receive emails every day from parents, players and coaches and associations that are completely on board.  When I see these letters and meet parents that thank me for what I am doing, it reminds me just how important The Messier Project is to the sport of hockey.

3.)  With your work on behalf of The Messier Project and in sharing your mission with players, leagues, coaches, parents, teams, equipment managers, trainers and associations across North America, you have quickly become a pioneer in making head (brain) protection a priority in the game of hockey.  What inspired you to act and to become a leader in this mission to change priorities in the sport?

The concussion issue was what first brought me to the table.  The fact that we are still basically using the same technology in our helmets that we have used over the last three decades or more is horrifying.  Every single piece of our equipment has evolved except the helmet.

Right now there is a lot of focus on how the helmet looks- that seems to be the determining factor players base their decision on, not only at the pro level, but also with the kids.  That is frightening when you consider what’s at stake.  But I also think it is understandable – up until now – because players really haven’t had a choice.  Basically all helmets have been equal in that they all do a great job preventing against catastrophic injury.  If the protection is all equal, players could then make their decision based on design, comfort and look.

That is why, I feel, the mission of The Messier Project is so important.  We need to change the priorities within our sport to make head protection a top priority- and it needs to be a concerted effort on the part of all the stake holders: players, NHL, NHLPA, Hockey Canada, USA Hockey, and perhaps most importantly, the manufacturers.

Concussions have crept into our game and we need to find a way to address this issue, which has become an epidemic.  Cascade Sports has spent years innovating and developing products solely for the purpose of filling this void and providing better head protection.  That is why I am so proud to partner with them in this initiative.

The revolutionary Seven Technology, featured in the M11, is a liner system that Cascade Sports designed to manage multiple impacts more effectively.  This is key and the first step in moving our sport in the right direction.  However, as we continue to educate, and head protection becomes the priority, I believe in the next five years, we will be wearing helmets that won’t even resemble what we have worn for the last three decades or more.

The time has come to change.  The players are ready, and I believe they will demand better protection.

Thanks for reading and check in next week- I’ll share my concerns over the current state of youth hockey and discuss other factors that must be addressed to better protect our players.