Supply: Neck guards necessary for hockey at 2026 Olympics

Neck guards shall be necessary for all hockey gamers on the upcoming Olympic Games in Milano-Cortana.

An NHL supply confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday that the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) would require the protecting gear be worn all through the upcoming match. BBC Sports was first to report the information.

The choice comes within the wake of Adam Johnson’s loss of life in October 2023 after he took a skate blade to the neck from Matt Petgrave throughout a sport in Sheffield, England. The IIHF had beforehand introduced in December 2023 that neck guards can be required in any respect ranges of the game however by no means set a date when that may be instated on the most senior degree amid points with supplying groups with the clothes. They’ve lastly set a timeline now with three months to go till the Olympics open in Italy.

The upcoming Games will function NHL gamers in competitors for the primary time since 2014. There is not any mandate that neck guards be worn by all skaters within the NHL, though some have opted to make use of them following Johnson’s accident. Incoming NHL gamers shall be required to put on them beginning within the 2026-27 season, nevertheless, per the league’s new collective bargaining settlement. Players who wearing at the least one NHL sport earlier than subsequent season will proceed having the choice.

Hockey motion begins on the Games on Feb. 5.