I love hockey, just no two ways around it. I play hockey at least weekly, watch hockey a few times a week, and read about hockey. I don't care if it is mites, squirts, high school, juniors, college, the NHL, or Team USA. Preferably a White Bear Lake team is playing or Team USA or the Duluth Bulldogs or the Minnesota Wild, but I'm not too particular.
With the season about to kick in, there's that one danger that we all are going to encounter: Flying Pucks. We've all seen the warnings at Centennial's arena or Forest Lake's Lichtscheidl Arena, but what really is the law?
The first reported case on the topic is from 1947 captioned Modec v. City of Eveleth. At that time the Minnesota Supreme Court declared that venues have a responsibility to provide reasonable protections to guests watching the games. The Supreme Court also noted that reasonable people understand when you go to a hockey game, there's an awfully good chance a puck might fly into the stands; thus, attendees voluntarily assume the risk of getting hit with a flying puck. So, even though Ms. Modec won a $2,000 jury verdict against the City of Eveleth, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled she was not entitled to any money after being hit.
Modec has never been overturned and is still the law today. So, beware hockey fans because if you get hit by a flying puck nobody is getting penalized!
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