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Why aren't neck guards mandatory yet?

JoVel

JoVel

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Jan 23, 2017
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We see more and more skate related injuries and close calls with the game getting faster each year. Why don't we have mandatory neck guards yet? It'd be such and easy fix for such a huge injury risk. Sure, they might be slightly uncomfortable to wear at first but it's not as if you don't forget they exist after having one on for 10 minutes. You might get a couple of asshat players bitching about them but then they'd forget they ever played without them.

If neck guards aren't made mandatory in the near future, it's gonna happen after a huge public outrage when someone eventually gets either seriously hurt or even worse, loses their life. That's not even speculation, it's a fact. It's gonna happen at some point. Then we're gonna look back and blame fingers for not taking player safety seriously. Just do it now man.
 
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JoVel said:
We see more and more skate related injuries and close calls with the game getting faster each year. Why don't we have mandatory neck guards yet? It'd be such and easy fix for such a huge injury risk. Sure, they might be slightly uncomfortable to wear at first but it's not as if you don't forget they exist after having one on for 10 minutes. You might get a couple of asshat players bitching about them but then they'd forget they ever played without them.

If neck guards aren't made mandatory in the near future, it's gonna happen after a huge public outrage when someone eventually gets either seriously hurt or even worse, loses their life. That's not even speculation, it's a fact. It's gonna happen at some point. Then we're gonna look back and blame fingers for not taking player safety seriously. Just do it now man.
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To me the players know the risk and it should be up to them. The same argument could be made for mandatory cages on the helmets.
 
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Current neck guards are awful ,early 2000s designs, even worse than full cages, everyone in jr where in some leagues its mandatory will fold them or cut them to make them not as suffocating , look at team canada WJC. its much more likely we see full face shields before mandatory neck guards
 
Because it's not clear how much they actually work and the players would never go for it, they aren't very comfortable and they look corny. USA Hockey stopped requiring them for kids a few years ago.

It's not happening anytime soon in the NHL. I wouldn't worry about the NHL players who have world class medical staff on hand, I'd worry about beer leaguers and lower levels of hockey.
 
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Some guys used to wear a turtle neck looking think as an under shirt. I think it was made with a cut proof material (kevlar?). Similar to the socks some guys were that should be made mandatory I feel. May not 100% protect a guy but would help for sure
 
They'll become popular as soon as a decent design comes out. Textile materials are getting better and better, so maybe within the next decade someone will come up with a cut-proof, skin-tight material that doesn't feel like a choker.

But bottom line, the reason we don't see a lot of players using them is because serious skate cuts to the throat are extremely rare. We can sit here and name the ~5 that have happened in all of NHL history, which has encompassed hundreds of thousands of games.
 
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Venzio X said:
Same argument can be made for car seatbelts.
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Seatbelts and airbags are not mandatory because they make the individual less susceptible to death and catastrophic injury from car crashes (the most common way to die after heart disease and cancer). Seatbelts are mandatory because significantly lowering the rate of preventable death and injury takes strain off of a society's healthcare system and economy. People aren't required to wear helmets while driving because adding the protection of helmets wouldn't have enough impact on collective society to make it worth policing people who don't follow the rule.

The same thing can be said for the NHL mandating helmets but not neck guards. One is clearly worth it for the sake of the broader league, but the other is overkill.
 
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Risk is a funny thing. People seem to think you can eliminate it, but you can't.

Don't let your kid play hockey without a neck guard. It's obvious. The risk is too great.

Of course if that is true..... Don't let your kid drive a car, or ride a bicycle, or fly on a plane.

Immediately after 9/11 -- which should have been the safest time to fly vis a vis attacks and who could get on planes with weapons -- Americans took to their cars in record numbers. Many would not go near a plane and instead would drive distances that they would otherwise at least consider flying. As a result accident related deaths immediately post 9/11 soared. Why? Because driving is inherently more dangerous than flying. Aversion to perceived risk herded people like cattle towards an inherently more dangerous activity.

I'm not suggesting that neck guards are dangerous, obviously. Only that reactions to risk are often irrational and can often lead to unintended consequences.
 
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kerrabria said:
Seatbelts and airbags are not mandatory because they make the individual less susceptible to death and catastrophic injury from car crashes (the most common way to die after heart disease and cancer). Seatbelts are mandatory because significantly lowering the rate of preventable death and injury takes strain off of a society's healthcare system and economy. People aren't required to wear helmets while driving because adding the protection of helmets wouldn't have enough impact on collective society to make it worth policing people who don't follow the rule.

The same thing can be said for the NHL mandating helmets but not neck guards. One is clearly worth it for the sake of the broader league, but the other is overkill.
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Seatbelts aren't mandatory in New Hampshire or Alaska.
 
93gilmour93 said:
Same argument can be made for wearing shoes with grips in the shower incase someone slips and hits their head
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The situation is closer to wearing safety helmets in construction zone than to wearing shoes in the shower.
 
93gilmour93 said:
Sure but shoes in the shower is close the situation than seatbelts in a car
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I actually disagree... Getting a puck or a skate in the neck can be much more devastating than slipping in the shower and hitting the head.
 
nturn06 said:
I actually disagree... Getting a puck or a skate in the neck can be much more devastating than slipping in the shower and hitting the head.
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Hence why you don't get paid millions for using your own shower at home. Or come to think about it, what the hell do I know what you do for money. :naughty:
 
It should be up to the player, but I do think it will. Be mandatory sooner than later but will take a while to phase in kind of like visors on helmets as I see it as more of a slow transition where current players will be grandfathered in and have a choice and new players will be required to wear them
 
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