When the players arrive for training camp this week, they’ll have something new waiting for them in their lockers. It’s called the Speed helmet and the Riddell-manufactured headgear is the latest in protection.

“It’s all based on spatial depth,” said long-time Stampeders equipment manager George Hopkins.  “The further away the helmet is from the head, the better chance you have of absorbing any blows and not getting concussions. Certainly it’s a protective measure.”

Much of the improved protection comes from a new shell design that covers the player’s jaw. Hopkins believes the Speed has another equally important feature.

“More than anything,” he said, “it’s based on passing the mirror test. These guys are all about how they look more than anything else. This helmet is a little more streamlined. It lives up to its name — it’s called the Speed helmet and it is a little faster-looking, a little cleaner-looking. The skill guys will wear this one more than they will the traditional Revolution helmet because (of the appearance).

“The older guys, who are used to the old-style helmet don’t want to change regardless of the protective ability. It’s based on comfort, it’s based on look. So they took all the technology and put it into a faster-, cleaner-looking helmet and they really upped the comfort on it.”

Hopkins has a little strategy to make sure the players will give the new lids a fair shake.

“I’m going to do the same thing I did the last time when Riddell came out with the Revolution-style helmet,” said Hopkins. “The guys who are wearing the old ones, I’ll switch them so they’ll have a new one sitting in their locker when they come into camp. If they don’t like it after three days of practice, come back and see me and we’ll change you out. They key on that being that after three days, they’ve broken it in and they don’t want to start over again with a new one.

“I’d say of the guys switching from the old-style VSR4 to the new Speed, probably 80 per cent will stay in it.”

Increased protection and sleeker look are just two of the features that figure to make the Speed popular.

“One nice thing about the inside of this one is the liner is removable,” said Hopkins.

“With all the hair-care products that go onto these guys nowadays,” he added with a chuckle, “it all transfers into the inside of the helmets so we can take it now, throw it in the wash and put it back in. It’s not nearly as funky for them or for us working on the helmets.”

The Speed helmets first started appearing during the 2008 season.

“It’s a full-year field test,” explained Hopkins. “Riddell being where they are in the Chicago area, tend to concentrate on two or three of the Big Ten schools in that area for field tests as well as the Chicago Bears. These started showing up at the tail end of last year’s NCAA season and then you saw a lot of them in the bowl games as well as the last two or three weeks of the NFL through the playoffs. They’ve probably been tested at the high-school level for a year before that.”

Hopkins is amazed when he thinks back to what players were wearing when he first became equipment manager more than three decades ago.

“It’s night and day,” he said. “It really is. The weight from this helmet to a helmet that say John Forzani, one of our owners, would have worn? This helmet is probably three pounds lighter and the protectiveness is not even in the same ballpark. The first thing I did when I took over as the head guy in ’77 is that I got rid of all the suspension helmets. I look at what we have now compared to that and it’s like leather helmets compared to plastic. It makes a big, big difference when it comes to fit, comfort and safety.”