Neck guards need to be mandatory

A tragic death reminds all of us of the dangers inherent in the sport we love

I don’t know about you, but when when our kids first started playing youth hockey, buying a neck guard was part of the package. It was one of the items you were practically required to use if you wanted to play hockey at the mite level. Somewhere along the line, probably when my oldest could learn to tie his own skates, it became cooler to go without a neck guard. 

I know, because when the sad headlines from Connecticut came out regarding youth hockey player Teddy Balkind dying of a neck laceration, I went hunting through my kids’ bags to see where all of these neck guards went. Lo and behold we still had four of them buried deep in the bags, having not seen the light of a rink for many years. 

And it was my fault. You know I could have pressed the issue, demanded he wear it, but it was a battle I didn’t want to have to fight so I dropped it. Truth be told, I always felt a little uneasy with the boys not wearing the neck guards, but I let it be instead of demanding it be put on. Strangely, not 24 hours before the sad Balkind accident hit the news, one of my oldest son’s high school teammates suffered a minor cut to the neck from a skate that took him in for a few stitches, I was starting to think that it was enough. It was time. Time to be more careful. 

And I was glad for the change to be honest. And so were the boys: because we made them part of the solution, they decided for themselves that it made sense. At first it wasn’t cool to put them back on, but with a few threats like “if you don’t wear it I will pull from the ice to make you!”, they got worn. And, then most of the kids on the ice started wearing them, so it felt better and more natural. 

Another way we have addressed this is in the shirts that feature the Kevlar collar. It is attached to the entire shirt which makes it easy to remember to wear neck protection since it is forced, of course. Sometimes though I think the collar can be a bit loose, but it is covering the neck nicely, it is better than nothing. 

Unfortunately, USA Hockey does not mandate wearing neck guards. They recommend it, but do not mandate. From the New York Times:

The governing bodies of hockey in Canada and Sweden mandate neck guards for amateurs, as do many European leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation.

In the United States, whether players must wear neck protection is left up to individual hockey associations and oversight boards. The result is a patchwork of policies.

As a parent, whenever I hear these stories of tragic accidents like the Teddy Balkind injury in Connecticut, it gives me pause. It can be hard to send our kids out knowing these risks exist. And believe me, I will be the first to pull my boys off if a gets too dangerous. It should never have come to this. Maybe leagues should make neck guards mandatory. Our High School league in New Jersey did so, and somehow kids still played well. In the same way that helmets and mouth guards are often deemed mandatory, so too should neck guards be. Call it the Balkind rule, after Teddy Balkind, as a way to honor this tenth grader’s monumental and tragic sacrifice. 

One can’t rewrite history: maybe Teddy Balkind’s life would have been saved by a neck guard, maybe not. But, I hope that every player moves beyond inconvenience and vanity to wear neck guards. Referees should send kids off the ice, in the same way that they do for the mouth guards, when a neck guard is not in place. It must be mandated across all youth leagues, and USA Hockey must support it, in order to prevent another senseless death in the sport that we love.