Media releases

• Brock research could be a game-changer for goalies

  Thursday, August 13, 2020 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 12 August 2020 – R0125

  Hockey goaltenders could have a new competitive advantage in stopping the puck thanks to researchers at Brock University.

  Professor of Kinesiology Kelly Lockwood and graduate student Colin Dunne have found an adjustment to the goalie skate that significantly increases the speed at which a goaltender can drop into the butterfly position to make a save.

  Their study, completed as part of Dunne’s master’s thesis, revealed how a small shift in blade alignment positioned on the bottom of the skate helped the execution of a frequent movement among goalies: the butterfly drop.

  “Hockey is a game of seconds,” said Lockwood. “Small tweaks in equipment can seem insignificant out of context, but in the high-speed sport of hockey — especially the execution of save techniques — it can mean the difference between a save or a goal.”

  Goaltenders frequently use the butterfly technique. Dropping to their knees with their leg pads flared to the sides and flush with the ice, their body position resembles the shape of a butterfly and eliminates the most-likely targets for the puck to slide through.

  Dunne, who has played the goalie position for many years at the minor pro and senior levels, said being able to drop down to the butterfly position faster is a big advantage between the pipes.

  Over a three-week span, Lockwood and Dunne conducted trials on an xHockey Products synthetic ice surface located in Brock’s On-Ice Performance Lab run by Lockwood and the Neuromuscular Mechanics and Ergonomics Lab run by Associate Professor of Kinesiology Michael Holmes.

  Using 3D motion capture technology and wireless in-skate pressure insoles, they measured kinematics and kinetics of two goaltender-specific movement patterns, butterfly drop to recovery and the lateral butterfly slide to recovery. The duo investigated three blade alignments (neutral, medial and lateral) mounted on customized goalie skates provided by True Hockey while comparing drop velocity and plantar pressure.

  They found significant improvements to average butterfly drop velocity when they mounted the blade medially, meaning closer to the inside or big toe side of the foot.

  “These results support our biomechanical understanding of how shifting the blade to the medial aspect of the boot would position the athlete to drop into the butterfly position quicker,” said Dunne, who is completing his PhD under the supervision of Lockwood and Holmes, further investigating the contribution of equipment to performance in hockey as well as other on-ice sports.

  The goaltending study is in the process of being published in a sports engineering journal and is being distributed through industry magazines, newsletters and associations such the Society of Professional Hockey Equipment Managers. The result has been significant interest from the hockey world.

  “We anticipate feedback to be forthcoming once the results hit the ice,” Lockwood said.

  Brock University Professor of Kinesiology Kelly Lockwood and PhD Candidate Colin Dunne are available for media interviews.

   

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University [email protected] or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases

• Brock researchers predict steep decline in tropical fisheries due to climate change

  Thursday, August 13, 2020 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 11 August 2020 – R0124

  Within 30 years, tropical fisheries — on which some 1.9 billion people depend on for their food and livelihood — may see a decline of 40 per cent if nothing is done to mitigate climate change.

  This is the prediction of a new study, described in a paper co-authored by Jessica Blythe, Assistant Professor in Brock University’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC), and recently published in Nature Reviews — Earth & Environment.

  The researchers mapped out the drastic effects that warming oceans, rising sea levels and changes to ocean chemistry and ecosystems will have on tropical fish stocks, and by extension, on people. In many Pacific island nations, for example, fish can make up as much as 90 per cent of the animal protein in an average person’s diet.

  The study uses a model of greenhouse gas emissions established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which no considerable actions are taken globally to slow the rate of climate change.

  “The four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) used by the IPCC represent climate futures that range from the lowest-emissions scenario of RCP 2.6 to the highest-emissions scenarios of RCP 8.5,” says Blythe. “In our paper, we highlight the decline associated with the RCP 8.5 scenario, which is the worst-case scenario and often referred to as business-as-usual because it is considered by many to be the most likely of the four scenarios.”

  She says the implications for human suffering are “huge,” and calls it another example of climate injustice, since “the majority of these countries contribute next to no greenhouse gases.”

  But those most directly affected will not be the only people feeling the impacts, says Blythe and her co-authors.

  “Even if you live thousands of kilometres inland like we do in Niagara, if you’ve got a can of tuna in your cupboard, there’s a good chance it was caught in the tropical Pacific,” Blythe says. “Everyone is going to feel the negative impacts of climate change on tropical fisheries — not just people who live in the tropics.”

  Blythe, who grew up in St. John’s, Newfoundland, knows all too well the extent to which collapsing fisheries can be felt.

  “When the North Atlantic cod stocks collapsed, I was 11,” she says. “I can remember the damage it wreaked on people and communities throughout the province. Looking back, I think watching the collapse of the cod, followed by the collapse of livelihoods and economy, must have fuelled my research interests in the close connections between people and oceans.”

  The paper demonstrates why it is crucial to anticipate these scenarios and work now to devise possible solutions.

  “When people think about food and the climate crisis, we tend to think about droughts and shortages in staple crops like corn, wheat and rice,” says Blythe. “Our paper points out that there are looming food — and associated social and political — crises associated with oceans and fisheries. Oceans are a critical part of the climate conversation that are often overlooked.”

  The paper, entitled “Climate change, tropical fisheries and prospects for sustainable development,” is available to read for free until Monday, Aug. 17.

  Jessica Blythe, Assistant Professor in Brock University’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, is available for media interviews.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University [email protected] or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases