MILWAUKEE — The tragic death of the American hockey player Adam Johnson on Saturday is now sparking conversation about hockey players wearing neck guards.
Neck guards are not a new item at Hockey Locker in Milwaukee.
"It's just another piece of equipment that can eventually save a life," the owner of Hockey Locker, Milos Host, says.
Host has sold them for years. After the death of Johnson, neck guards mean a lot more to him.
"We talked about it last night, and I said you gotta wear a neck guard," Host explains. He is now making his daughter, who plays for the Milwaukee Junior Admirals, wear one.
"Everything else you have to wear, elbow pads, shin pads, all that kind of stuff, but this is to me very important,” Host says,
USA Hockey is the national governing body over amateur hockey in the country and neck guards are not mandated. However, they are recommended.
"For me, safety has been very important, from top down. His mask to neck guard, you know pads, everything else," Union Grove resident Steve Peterson explains.
Peterson's son is a goalie for the Vipers in Lake County, Illinois. He says his son has always worn a neck guard.
“As a goalie, definitely, he's on the bottom of a lot of piles.”
As far as professional hockey goes, neck guards are not mandatory there either. The Nashville Predators affiliate team, the Milwaukee Admirals, follows that guidance as well.
“Our goalies may wear a little extra equipment there, more for puck protection. Cause obviously pucks are flying there, sticks are flying in there, but we don’t have any position players that are doing it,” President of the Milwaukee Admirals, Jon Greenberg, explains.
However, Greenberg says they do mandate wrist guards and cut-proof socks. “Those areas are far more likely to have somebody with a skate get near you.”
Host says that the weight of skates has actually changed over the years and it has changed the game.
"Sticks are a lot lighter; skates are a lot; you can get hurt a lot quicker than back in the day."
The Southeastern Hockey Association of Wisconsin tells me neck guards are not mandatory but highly encouraged.
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