(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Local hockey groups are reacting to a new player-safety rule following a player's death overseas.
A new mandate from USA Hockey says that beginning in August, all players under the age of 18 must wear neck laceration protection. It follows the death last year of 29-year-old American Adam Johnson, who took a skate blade to the neck during a game in the Elite Ice Hockey League in England.
“I am 100 percent behind it, and I think even for kids up through college should be wearing neck protection,” said Craig Itagaki, who was playing in a men's group on Johnny's Ice House on West Madison on Monday.
His two children grew up playing hockey, and he said he has had concerns about neck injuries or cuts from skates.
“It’s just one of those things where if it’s required and everyone has to wear it, everyone will be fine with it,” Itagaki told WBBM Newsradio.
Bob Apter is President of the Northern Illinois Hockey League, which is the largest youth hockey league in Illinois and second largest in the U.S. It has long mandated the wearing of the safety equipment.
“As a parent of kids that played hockey, I made mine wear it,” he said of the neck protectors. “I don’t know why there would be resistance to it.”
Darren Hoeger plays in an adult league. He says there's less contact in many recreational leagues, so the concern about getting cut by a skate is lessened.
“We still play hard, but we’re a little older, we’re a little slower, and we’re not playing check hockey,” Hoeger said.
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