These Athletes Forced Their Sports To Change The Rules

Stan Mikita

During practice, Stan Mikita accidentally bent his stick in the doorway in a rink and from this realized that his shots were completely unpredictable to opponents. He and his teammate Bobby Hull would take slap shots from afar and the puck would end up in the back of the net.

Due to helmets not being common before the 1970s, the unpredictability of the shot became too dangerous and the NHL had to limit the curvature of the stick allowed.