Players on the Didsbury-based Mountainview Colts will all be wearing neck guards in practices and games starting this week, joining players across the province in the move to better protection.
“I told them at practice to get them on because it (new rule) comes into effect next week,” head coach Dan Visser said Nov. 14. “I don’t think there will be any issues and the transition will be smooth.”
The Colts play in the Heritage Junior B Hockey League. Teams in the Alberta Junior Hockey League also recently started wearing the neck protectors.
On Nov. 3, the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL), of which the Alberta Junior Hockey League is a member, made it mandatory for all Canadian junior A hockey players to wear neck guards during all on-ice activities.
That decision was made following an incident in which former NHL player Adam Johnson died after his neck was slashed by a skate in an on-ice collision during a game between the Nottingham Panthers and the Sheffield Steelers of the English Ice Hockey Association.
Grant McNeil, the general manager of the Olds-based junior A Grizzlys, says the wearing of neck guards hasn’t been a real issue for his team.
Fortunately, the Grizzlys reacted quickly to the new rule and as a result, were able to obtain the necessary gear from “a Calgary source,” McNeil said in an email to the Albertan.
“Player safety is always first, and this decision was made with that in mind,” he wrote.
McNeil was asked if any Grizzlys have resisted wearing the new equipment.
“Like all players, ours are no different in that they have a range of opinions on the use of a neck guard, but we have had no resistance to the fact they must comply to wearing one,” he wrote.
“For the majority, if not all of our players, the wearing of a neck guard is something they have done at the lower levels of hockey so the adjustment to wearing one again is not a big challenge.
“Player safety is always the first priority and if this piece of mandatory equipment prevents even one injury, then it’s a positive.”
