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One year ago today, the death of 16-year-old Teddy Barkindo shocked the entire hockey world.
Hartford’s Ryan Daigle said it was “clearly awful.” “When I think about my family, this was just a kid playing sports.”
Barkind was amputated with a skate blade during a preparatory school game in Greenwich last year.
Just yesterday, a skating accident of a similar nature took one player to the hospital during last night’s Army-Sacred Heart college hockey game.
“Every time something like this happens, we think about how we can prevent it. I think player safety comes first,” Daigle said.
That’s what Connecticut legislators thought last winter when they first introduced a bill to require neck guards in youth hockey.
All participating schools of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) are now required to wear neck guards, but this does not include private schools.
“Actually, the first conversation was due to an accident on the ice here in Connecticut,” said Rep. Elizabeth Linehan (D-103), Speaker of the Children’s Committee.
However, based on the lack of research into the effectiveness of neck guards, the Connecticut Medical Association’s Sports Medicine Board opposed the measure.
“That doesn’t mean we should do it, we recommend a neck guard, but it’s not necessary because there’s no evidence,” said Stephanie Arliss Meyer, president of the Connecticut Medical Association Sports Medicine Society. Commission.
Instead, the new language called for more research across all sports to “establish a task force to study injury prevention and safety protocols.”
“Instead of putting something in state law that a neck guard is required, I would say state law should look at these things, check the latest science, and make ongoing recommendations based on that. ” said Linehan.
That bill didn’t go to the ballot last year, but with sports medicine and safety at the forefront of debate today, a new bill with similar goals in mind is underway.
“It’s important to understand the evidence why we do what we do, rather than just making decisions based on intuition and common concerns,” says Arlis-Mayor. .
The bill refocuses CIAC and schools across the state to obtain all-sport medical data that can be used to keep its protocols as secure and up-to-date as possible.
The bill will be debated on Tuesday, and lawmakers will vote to send it to a public hearing, Linehan said.
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