Neck guards shall be obligatory at worldwide degree for ice hockey gamers after Adam Johnson’s loss of life.
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) stated all its occasions – together with the Olympics, and the boys’s and ladies’s world championships – will now function the safety for gamers.
It follows Johnson’s loss of life throughout a Nottingham Panthers match in October after the 29-year-old was struck within the neck by an ice skate.
A person arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in reference to Johnson’s loss of life has been launched on bail pending additional inquiries.
In an announcement, the IIHF stated, following a suggestion from its medical committee, it “has decided to mandate the use of a neck laceration protector… at all levels of IIHF competitions”.
The precise date for the IIHF neck guard mandate to enter place remains to be to be decided, based mostly on the availability of neck guards out there.
The federation added: “Until the rule officially goes into effect, the IIHF continues to strongly recommend that neck laceration protectors are worn by all players performing in an IIHF competition.”
In the wake of Johnson’s loss of life, the English Ice Hockey Association stated neck guards will change into obligatory throughout “all on-ice activities” from the beginning of 2024.
Canadian Hockey League leagues has additionally made neck guards necessary.
The protecting tools – which wraps round a participant’s neck – has not been made necessary within the Elite Ice Hockey League, of which the Panthers are a member, nor in America’s National Hockey League (NHL).
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Syracuse Crunch ahead Cole Koepke – a pal of Johnson – has began sporting a neck guard within the wake of the Nottingham Panther’s participant.
He informed CBS Minnesota: “It doesn’t bother me to wear the neck guard, so I don’t see a reason not to wear it.
“It simply looks as if the best factor to do.”
Source: information.sky.com”