AMHERST, N.Y. — After the death of former NHL player Adam Johnson during a hockey game in the United Kingdom, a local athletic director, store owner, and hockey players are looking into safety measures.
Johnson died after his neck was cut by an opponent’s skate blade.
“If ever there’s a point in time, where people are ever listening, it’s after a tragedy like this,” said Brian Anken.
Anken is the athletic director at St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute in Kenmore.
As soon as he heard of Johnson’s death, he thought about how to protect his hockey players at school.
“We automatically started looking at protocols and things we can be doing to better put our guys in a safe situation.”
This tragedy emphasized to many hockey players the importance of wearing neck guards while playing.
The neck guards are a protective piece of equipment made from strong materials like Kevlar to stop a skate from cutting through it.
Some come attached to shirts and are worn like a turtle-neck sweater, others are a separate piece clipped around a player’s neck with Velcro.
Anken shared that wearing the guards has been mandatory with both his team and many other local youth leagues for a while.
“It won’t impact how we play but will certainly impact the safety piece.”
I drove up to the Northtown Center at Amherst to see how many players wear a neck guard when it’s not required.
During an adult league game, other than goalies, zero players had one on.
“It’s kind of like a seat belt rule, it gets really really uncomfortable, but I never said it was a wise decision [to not wear it],” said one of the players, Corey Russell.
Other players like Tony Blasting just got out of the habit of wearing one in recreational leagues, but he’s in the process of making that change.
“[Seeing the Adam Johnson news] made me think about taking out my old neck guard and putting it back on again, I just have to find it,” Blasting said.
For many Buffalo Sabres fans, Johnson’s death reminds them of a similar incident that happened to goalie Clint Malarchuk in 1989.
His life was saved by first responders.
Manager at Great Skate Hockey Supply Co. in Amherst Keith Farkas was at that Sabres game, and as a result will never let his kids play a hockey game without a neck guard.
“Both my kids play, and they wouldn’t step on the ice without a neck guard and they both know that,” Farkas said.
He’s noticed an increase of neck guard sale to around a dozen a day and countless more online.
The neck guards attached to shirts cost around $80-$90, while the individual pieces are only $15-$25.
“That wouldn’t be a piece that I'd let them play without. If you’re going to skimp on something, skimp on a stick,” said Farkas. “Get a cheaper stick, put the extra money into the protective stuff, that’s the most important for players.”
Great Skate Hockey Supply Co. does still have plenty neck guards in stock for anybody looking to buy one.
