Years after his near-death experience, a hockey player questions why neck guards are still not a mandatory requirement.
Kim Crouch’s hockey sweater from that fateful night still adorns the wall of his basement rec room. Meticulously repaired and cleaned, it conceals the jagged line where emergency workers once cut it off his blood-soaked torso.
The long, curved scar on the right side of his neck has also faded with time, but the memories persist.
On January 5, 1975, Crouch, then 18, stood in the goal for the Junior A Markham Waxers, facing off against the Royal York Royals at a rink in North Toronto. What seemed like a routine play unfolded into an unforeseen and life-altering event.
“There was a puck entering into our zone. And as a goalie, I raced out, slid on my left side, and as I did, two players jumped over me and one of their skates caught me on the side of the neck,” said Crouch.
Monochrome photographs, taken by a photographer from a local newspaper, freeze the players in mid-air just moments before the collision. Following that, a disoriented Crouch is portrayed, seated amidst a growing pool of his own blood. By his side, the man who rescued him, team trainer Joe Piccininni, can be seen earnestly attempting to stem the flow.
Nearly fifty years on, Crouch reminisces about the emergency surgery that endured for three hours, yet the exact count of stitches eludes his memory. Preserved in his scrapbook, a case review outlines the severe injuries, including extensive muscle and nerve damage, a nick to a vertebra, the complete severance of the carotid artery, and the jugular vein mostly cut through.
“As you get older, you begin to realize how fortunate you were,” said Crouch, now 67. “I was a pretty lucky guy.”
A narrowly avoided tragedy became even more remarkable due to the events that unfolded afterward.
Within a month of the incident, Crouch returned to the ice, sporting what could arguably be considered the inaugural hockey neck guard. This innovative piece of safety equipment was crafted by his father, Ed, who was then the fire chief in Whitby, Ontario, and stitched together by a local seamstress.
Despite gaining attention and becoming commercially available, mandatory neck guards have yet to become standard in professional or adult league hockey.
The recent tragic death of Adam Johnson, 29, during a professional game in the U.K. in October, following a skate-blade incident, may prompt a shift in this trend.
Canlan Sports, the organization overseeing Adult Safe Hockey, the nation’s largest beer league boasting 65,000 players spanning four provinces, indicates that a mandate for neck guards is on the horizon.
“It’s something that keeps you up at night for sure,” said Joey St-Aubin, the company president and CEO, about the risk of serious injury or death. “It’s on the front burner for us.”
The organization intends to engage with its player representatives in the upcoming weeks, with the likely implementation of mandatory neck guards beginning with its spring or summer leagues.
