The Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) is taking further steps to increase standards for the safety of its players.

This week, the league announced it will be taking part in the CJHL concussion program.

MJHL Commissioner, Kim Davis says the new national program provides the league with innovative concussion management software from Headcheck Health, to be used alongside its existing concussion protocol.

The MJHL's concussion protocol establishes mandatory guidelines for the recognition, assessment, and management of concussion. Davis says Headcheck's mobile and web-based software provides MJHL teams with more advanced tools to follow that protocol.

Another aspect of the program is that it allows for a player's concussion history to transfer with them from team-to-team or league-to-league. Davis says, together with the other commissioners, there was a strong collective interest in introducing a program that was the same, if not identical, for all the leagues in Canada. "It really is an added benefit that if a player is transferred or moved from one league to another, that the health information for the player, as it relates to concussion injury, can migrate with the player."

In all levels of hockey, Davis says there has been a lot of focus and attention paid to concussion injury situations, and the implementation of this national program is a continued focus on that. "It's an evolution in the sense there's some use of technology to help our teams, particularly the medical staff on teams to be more responsive to the treating and care of players."