Minnesota Wild joins forces with mechanical engineering students to create better shin pads
A new, unique partnership between the Minnesota Wild and the University of St. Thomas is helping both the players and engineering students.
It's called the Minnesota Wild Hockey Lab. Three teams of mechanical engineering students are competing over their spring break to come up with the best design.
With shin and ankle injuries being so common, the students are focusing on shin pads.
"Injury prevention is a big part of hockey, and really any sport. So we're seeing if their fresh minds can come up with a unique idea to help protect our players," said Mike Murray, an assistant general manager for the Wild.
"I thought it was very interesting to where engineering and sports overlap, and kind of just how we can complement players making them safe and just exploring that kind of crossover," said John Edwards, one of the students participating.
"This is a fantastic project," said mechanical engineering professor John Wentz. "It's one of the things that really matches what we like to do here at St Thomas. It's very applied. It's hands on. It's working with an exciting partner."
One of the biggest hurdles is the time crunch. It's a fast turnaround with the work starting Monday and final presentations to the team and their professors Friday.
"Teamwork is great, bouncing ideas off of each other," Edwards said. "Everybody knows something that neither of us know individually. So it's important to have that collaborative effort."
"Being able to see them apply the theory that they've learned in the classroom to a real world experience is just outstanding. We love to see how the students' brains are working, how they're developing things," added Wentz.
It'll be a while before we could see the new design on the ice in the NHL, but the team already says it's a winning collaboration.
"The outreach in the community is very, very important to what we do. I think that's part of what makes working in hockey so great, and especially here in Minnesota," said Murray. "I just think it's a great partnership that can lead to bigger and greater things down the road."