Hockey needs better protective equipment, says rec player who survived neck slash
'Hopefully, my story can be the last of these incidents or one of the last,' said Ike Werner
A skate blade to the neck was a close call for hockey player Ike Werner last Sunday, and incidents like his are prompting players to think about protecting themselves better on the ice.
For fans and players alike, Werner's accident brings to mind a tragic occurrence. Late last year while playing in the U.K, former NHL player Adam Johnson died after a blade sliced his neck.
This time when history repeated itself, it was with a better outcome. Werner was playing his regular Sunday game when a player's skate came up and across his neck.
Werner said he has no recollection of the accident. It was only when he was back in the change room that a friend pointed out the injury.
"He said, 'Yes, man. Like, this is serious,'" Werner told The Current's host Matt Galloway. "'We need to get medical attention.'"
As luck would have it, Werner's rec league plays at The Ford Performance Centre, where The Leafs have their practice space. In fact, the NHL team's change room was right next door, where Werner figured he could access help faster than by calling an ambulance. When he was ushered into the equipment room, the Leafs staff realized it was a significant cut.
"Then we walked over into the actual medical room where they attended to the wound... It was their medical training staff, Neil Davidson and Paul Ayotte."
While they tended to it, Werner thought a lot about Adam Johnson's fatal accident on the ice.
"I was having a lot of serious thoughts about what could be going on right now," he said. "So they kind of went through all the vitals and so forth, and they assured me that I wasn't going to die."
Moving forward
Accidents like these have raised questions around whether hockey players should wear more protective equipment on the ice.
It's something Werner thought about "immediately after the accident," he said.
"Find a neck guard, look for one, wear one," said Werner. "I know a lot of leagues will not be mandating the neck guard, but that doesn't stop the individual from making choices."
USA Hockey has already implemented a neck guard mandate for players under the age of 18 starting Aug. 1. That came just three months after Johnson's death.
The sentiment around protection is echoing across the hockey world, too.
Chief medical officer for USA Hockey, Dr. Michael Stuart, says companies are now encouraged to ramp up production of this kind of protective gear.
"There is a market for these materials and devices, so companies are now kind of jumpstarted to not only increase production but to come up with better designs and materials," he said.
WATCH: Former hockey player says it's time to make neck guards mandatory
And accidents like Johnson's and Werner's are both reminders to not only create protective equipment like helmets and pads that can protect from blows, but equipment that is cut-proof, too.
Former NHL player Carlo Colaiacovo's teammate Claude Giroux was cut in his left leg back in 2015 — and that's when Philadelphia's general manager Ron Hextall decided every player needed to start wearing cut-proof socks.
"The rest of my career, that's all I wanted to wear, was cut-resistant socks," said Colaiacovo.
The former NHL player now owns Daredevil Hockey, a company that has been making cut-proof gear for several years now.
For now, Werner says he is still dealing with the "psychological and mental impact" that's left from getting his neck slashed. But he urges the importance of being safer on the ice.
"I've had a lot of friends, old teammates and random strangers that have reached out and let me know that my story and the fact that it can happen in rec league… really brings it home to people," he said.
"So hopefully, my story can be the last of these incidents or one of the last, and it can kind of change some behaviours."
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With files from the Associated Press