The Chicago Tribune (http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-talk-hockey-puck-suit-11-jan11,0,2064071.story) reports today that an Illinois appellate court overruled a lower courts ruling dismissing a negligence suit by a trainer who was hit by a puck during practice. The team is the Chicago Steel, Topher Scott's USHL team. The year was 2004, but the story doesn't mention the month, so it's not clear whether he was around or not. Then player had set up a row of water bottles in the bench area and was using them for target practice. The trainer stepped from the locker room into the bench area and caught a puck just under the eye. The appellate court said that although hockey is a contact sport, the contact sport exemption doesn't apply in this case. So, the lower court now has to judge whether there was negligence.