The death of Adam Johnson continues to shock the hockey world. The 29-year-old professional from the USA, who played for the Augsburger Panthers in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) last season, was hit in the neck by an ice skate in his Nottingham Panthers’ game against the Sheffield Steelers on Saturday bleeds to death. South Yorkshire Police have carried out routine investigations, although there can be no doubt as to their outcome.
The German national player Dominik Bittner made it clear how much the incident affected all ice hockey players. “We as a team felt a brutal lump in our stomachs when we received the information,” said the EHC Red Bull Munich defender. As a player, do you ignore the fact that dangerous moments with razor-sharp blades can arise at any time? “It’s very, very difficult,” said the 31-year-old after the DEL game against Nuremberg. Ice hockey is a physical sport. “You have to hide it somewhere, but it’s often there in the back of your mind.”
Johnson’s accident was a “freak accident”, said Nuremberg’s trainer Tom Rowe. The case still raises questions. One is: Should players be required to wear cut-resistant neck protection, or is the protection the player’s own responsibility? Wearing a neck protector is not mandatory in the DEL, but it is mandatory in the Swedish or Finnish leagues.
Bittner says: The “false pride on the part of the players must fall.” Players who played with neck protection were “sometimes laughed at”. Munich coach Toni Söderholm, who was required to wear a neck protector as a professional in Northern Europe, explained: “If a player wants to talk about it now or there is a need for equipment, then we will make sure that he gets it.” The 2021 sports report from the VBG professional association shows that almost five percent of all ice hockey injuries affect the neck. The head is most commonly affected (almost 19 percent).
The DEL pointed out again on Monday that the issue of neck protection would be addressed at the next meeting of the sporting directors at the end of November. “We can’t determine that from the office,” said game operations manager Jörg van Ameln Sports Information Service. “But if all clubs agree, this should be introduced as mandatory equipment.” It is also possible to quickly change the rules by means of a circular resolution.
There are already examples of rule changes that have resulted in improved security
Even if the comparison is impossible: Adam Johnson’s terrible case is not the only one of its kind in recent ice hockey history. One day before Christmas Eve 2021, Niclas Kaus, an 18-year-old young player from Löwen Frankfurt, died as a result of severe head injuries that he sustained when he fell into the boards after a duel. In October 2019, the then 23-year-old regional league player Tjalf Caesar fell headfirst into the boards after a duel. He broke his neck and tore an artery. Caesar suffered a stroke and has been paralyzed since the accident. The Rosenheim major league player Mike Glemser has been paralyzed in the cervical spine since February of this year; he also crashed his head into the boards.
“You never want that as a player,” emphasizes national player Dominik Bittner. “There is no ice hockey player who decides: ‘I’m going to drive him to the hospital now’ https://www.sueddeutsche.de/sport/.” It’s about finding a “fine line” in duels. “A certain toughness “It’s part of our sport, and that shouldn’t be lost,” says Bittner. This also requires solidarity among the players: “When you’re in a defenseless position, you expect that you won’t be completely run over.”
There are examples in ice hockey of rule changes that resulted in improved safety – even if players often resisted them at the beginning. The half visor has been mandatory in the DEL for around 20 years, and the number of serious eye injuries has decreased significantly. Around 2010, statutory accident insurance tried to make full visors mandatory for professionals in order to reduce tooth and jaw injuries. That didn’t work. The professionals’ argument is that full visors restrict their perception of what is happening in the game too much.
Stefan Ustorf’s attitude towards neck protection is clear. “Now you make that the rule – and that’s it,” said the former national team captain and current Nuremberg sports director. At the Nuremberg game in Munich, where his son Jake was also on the ice, he was “scared of watching an ice hockey game for the first time.”