It happened half a world away, but the shocking death of Adam Johnson, who had his neck severed by a skate during a game in England’s Elite Ice Hockey League a year ago, hit close to home for Vancouver Canucks defenceman Carson Soucy. The two were friends and teammates for two seasons at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
Johnson’s tragic passing is one of the main reasons Soucy has added neck protection to his equipment for this upcoming National Hockey League season. The veteran blueliner debuted his cut-resistant neck guard during training camp in Penticton and has since worn it in his two exhibition appearances. It’s something Soucy considered adding last season, but never managed to find the right fit. He vowed to ensure Johnson’s death was not in vain and pledged to get the equipment issue sorted out over the off-season.
“Yeah, it’s new for this year,” Soucy told CanucksArmy after practice at Rogers Arena this week. “I was going to do it last year at the end, but kind of just didn’t find the right one where it was comfortable. Some were a little too high or restrictive, but now that I’ve got this one, I don’t even notice it.”
Protective neck wear has been mandated at lower levels of hockey for a few years now and this season players in the American Hockey League will be required to comply. Over the past month at Young Stars and with junior-aged players at Canucks main training camp, neck guards were prevalent.
With the tragic passing of Johnson and a close call of his own last season, Soucy simply felt the time was right to take the added measure to ensure his safety on the ice.
“I was close with Adam, I played with him in Duluth and he was a good friend,” Soucy explained. “And then last year, kind of later in the year, I got one (a skate blade) that I thought was going to get me in the face, but it kind of hit me in the chest protector. And that gave me a little bit of a shock where I couldn’t do anything to protect myself. So after that I decided if it wasn’t going to be last year, I was going to start over the summer and get it right for this year.”
Soucy is the second Canucks skater to adopt a neck guard following Conor Garland who returned from the Christmas break last season and made the protective device part of his practice and game routine.
With skates, sticks and pucks all in perpetual motion throughout a game, wearing neck protection is a small step that could make a massive difference and it just seemed to be a no-brainer for the 29-year-old entering his second season with the Canucks and his sixth full season in the NHL.
“It felt a little warmer and a little weird the first few skates, but now I don’t notice it all,” Soucy said of his one-piece Warroad underlayer with a raised neckline. “I think it’s going to be more and more every year, yeah. More guys are going to go there. It’s not a bad thing to be protected. Hopefully there are less incidents, but there seems to be guys getting cut every year whether it’s up top or on the wrists. That’s just an unfortunate risk of playing. But I think more and more guys will start and it’ll have a trickle down effect.”
Carson Soucy isn’t out to make any kind of fashion statement. He’s simply all about common sense. And by wearing simple neck protection this season he’s hoping to ensure his own safety while honouring the life and legacy of a friend and former teammate taken far too soon.
