For those of you who have not read about the incident (and have been fortunate enough not to see the video of the accident), this past Saturday, Adam Johnson, a forward for the EIHL Nottingham Panthers, was clipped in the neck by a skate during play.
The play itself was a “freak accident” during a collision, but one that unfortunately led to the passing of Johnson after emergency treatment.
After the incident, the EIHL decided that they would postpone all games on Sunday.
Johnson had previously played for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Ontario Reign of the AHL, as well as 13 games in the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins. As a tribute, he was named the 1st star of the game for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Sunday.
There are times when unfortunate incidents lead to immediate or not too far in the future rule changes.
Take for example the death of Don Sanderson back in 2009, who passed after his head hit the ice during a hockey fight, helmetless. After his passing, the OHL immediately implemented a one-game suspension for players who took their helmets off or undid their chin straps.
We can look at the increase of Kevlar socks being used after Erik Karlsson was cut by Matt Cooke’s (unintentionally) skate during a play a few years back.
So where does that leave us in the hockey world with the most recent tragic accident?
The outcry on Twitter for teams not having their players wear Kevlar neckguards was almost immediate. The divide amongst fans of the game started brewing with those who felt they weren’t necessary due to a freak accident and others who thought it was dumb not to have them already on.
Even I myself, who never had to wear one during my youth or college play, felt compelled to tweet about overreacting but then pulled back that thought after some more deep reflection.
I myself as a Junior in HS had a teammate get clipped in the neck when he fell behind our net and the forechecker nicked him as he skated for the loose puck, all purely accidental. I was sadly one of the first people back and saw the gruesome cut starting to slowly push out what looked like red flubber (my teammate was taken off the ice via paramedics and we were very fortunate to have fans in the stands who worked in the medical field) from the open wound.
I was immediately shaken up, and when they sent us to the locker room after the incident while the paramedics came, I asked a teammate if I could use his neck guard as we still went back out to finish the game.
I remember taking a few warm-up laps and immediately disliked the feel and what I thought was obstruction of the neck guard. I ended up taking it off and never using it again.
In the last 15 years, we’ve seen better and more comfortable versions of the equipment come out, with some neck guards attached directly to an undershirt that has a strap in the back that velcros the neck guard together.
Most recently USA hockey doesn’t have any mandatory rules in place that players need to wear neck guards. Still, they do “encourage players to wear one” which is odd since Hockey Canada has a rule in place that all minor and female hockey players must wear a neck guard.
My assumption is that after this incident, it won’t take long before USA hockey mandates every youth (including junior players below the age of 18) players must wear a neck guard in all USA hockey-related events and we will see a directive for referees to enforce said rule and implement minor and misconduct penalties as they had been before.
At the professional levels, I don’t necessarily see the NHL/AHL implementing said mandate that players must wear one. We’ve already seen a few necks being cut in the National stage with players such as Clint Maralchuk and Richard Zednik, and nothing was ever done after that.
At this time, I expect this to affect the youth and junior levels, which if these new versions that are more comfortable and less restrictive can help save one life, that’s absolutely better than nothing.
