Minnetonka, Hill-Murray wearing groundbreaking M11 helmet

As The Messier Project – a product development and grassroots campaign that aims to address the issue of concussion in hockey – continues to gain steam throughout the United States and Canada, the hockey community in the state of Minnesota has taken a lead role in working to make head protection a top priority as more than 20 high school teams are wearing the M11, the revolutionary new helmet designed by hockey icon Mark Messier and the head protection experts at Cascade Sports.

At this week’s Class 2A boys’ state hockey tournament, Minnetonka, the top-ranked 2A team and top seed in the tournament, and fourth-seeded Hill Murray, are wearing the M11 as they play for the title. Minnetonka opens the tournament Thursday at 6 p.m. against Lakeville North, Hill-Murray following against Duluth East.

It is the protection and the performance of the M11 that convinced Minnetonka, Hill-Murray and the many other Minnesota teams – along with the Wild’s Brent Burns – to join The Messier Project.

The M11 helmet features Seven Technology, a cutting-edge liner system utilizing a ground-breaking impact attenuation system to more effectively manage energy transfer from direct impact. On impact, Seven Technology compresses to laterally displace energy and within seconds, it completely resets to ready for the next impact. Hockey is a multiple impact sport and Seven Technology represents the sport’s “first true” multiple impact technology with total material reset. It only takes one concussion to increase the chance of subsequent concussion by three to five times. The M11 takes a proactive approach to head protection by providing consistent impact absorption over multiple impacts to reduce the amount of energy transferred to the brain on direct impact.

Also featured in the M11 are the new Pro Fit System and a Mono 90 Shell Design. The Pro Fit sizing system, first introduced in Cascade Sports’ top-selling line of lacrosse helmets, allows for easy adjustment so that players – and parents – can instantly adjust the M11 for a truly customized fit which helps keep the helmet on and increases comfort by eliminating pressure points. The M11’s Mono 90 Shell Design uses the helmet shell as a stress member to reduce direct energy transfer and disperse energy from impact across a larger surface area for increased protection.

www.themessierproject.com