A yr in the past to the day, the lack of 16-year-old Teddy Balkind despatched shockwaves all through the hockey world. 

“It’s terrible, obviously,” stated Ryan Daigle of Hartford. “You think about the family and this was just a kid playing his sport.”

Balkind was lower by a skate blade throughout a prep college sport in Greenwich final yr.

Just yesterday, a skating accident of comparable nature despatched one participant to the hospital throughout final night time’s faculty hockey sport between Army and Sacred Heart.

“Whenever something like this happens, you think about how it can be prevented, and I think the safety of the players comes first,” Daigle stated.

That’s what Connecticut lawmakers thought final winter once they first launched a invoice requiring neck guards throughout youth hockey.

Currently, member colleges of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) are required to put on neck guards, however that doesn’t embrace non-public colleges.

“The initial conversations were in fact due to the accident that happened on the ice here in Connecticut,” stated Rep. Elizabeth Linehan (D-103), House chair for the Children Committee.

But based mostly on a scarcity of analysis concerning the effectiveness of neck guards, the Connecticut State Medical Society  Sports Medicine Committee opposed the motion.

“It doesn’t mean that we should do it, and we do recommend neck guards, but we’re not requiring them because the evidence isn’t there,” stated Stephanie Arlis-Mayor, chair of the Connecticut State Medical Society Sports Medicine Committee.

Instead, new wording known as for extra analysis throughout all sports activities to “establish a task force to study injury prevention and safety protocols.”

“Instead of putting something in state statute that says neck guards are required, in state statute, we want to say it is required for you to look at these things, check out the latest science and make recommendations based on that on a continual basis,” Linehan stated.

Last yr, that invoice by no means got here up for a vote, however with sports activities drugs and security on the forefront of as we speak’s discourse, a brand new invoice is within the works with an identical purpose in thoughts.

“It’s important to understand the evidence of why we’re doing what we’re doing rather than just making decisions based on gut feelings or general worries,” Arlis-Mayor stated.

The invoice is as soon as once more targeted on getting medical knowledge throughout all sports activities that the CIAC, and colleges all through the state, can use to maintain its protocols as protected and up-to-date as doable.

Linehan says the invoice will probably be mentioned on Tuesday when lawmakers will vote to ship it to public listening to.