Major change to World Juniors in wake of Adam Johnson incident

Yesterday, the IIHF announced that neck guards will be mandatory for players participating in the World Juniors tournament. The organization will soon be holding another vote to determine the mandate for the World Hockey Championships, and is expected to mandate neck guards there as well.

For the safety of the players, the is the obvious decision. Where such an awful injury can be preventable, proper action needs to be taken - and that is simply wearing a neck protector.

All across the NHL players are individually deciding to wear neck protection, and some teams are even openly encouraging their players to wear them. If there's one positive to come from the tragedy, it's the greatly increased awareness to the safety of hockey players.