Innocent play nearly leads to horrific scene on the ice

In last night's game between the Winnipeg Jets and Chicago Blackhawks, Jets forward Mark Scheifele just narrowly avoided a very gruesome and potentially life-threatening injury by what seemed like only millimetres.

Blackhawks' star rookie, Connor Bedard made a move on the veteran forward along the wall in an attempt to sneak by Scheifele, which prompted him to wrap his stick and arms around the rookie to try and stop him in his tracks. As Bedard was falling over and trying to finish off his shot attempt, his skate came dangerously close to Scheifele's neck area.


After what we saw not too long ago with Adam Johnson in the U.K., it does prompt the question of whether or not neck guards should be compulsory to avoid the risk of neck cuts altogether. Of course, it's not all too common, it's never done maliciously, and it's hard to predict if it will ever happen again, but as we saw in England, it can be a life or death situation.


Some players have opted into wearing neck guards and the Pittsburgh Penguins were the first club to mandate the use of the equipment on their AHL and ECHL affiliates, but many believe that it will take awhile for the NHL to follow the trend.

Fortunately for Scheifele, he not only escaped the situation without any scratches, he was also not given a penalty for the obvious trip either.