By Kris Ohashi
The death of a 13 year-old girl celebrating her upcoming birthday at a National Hockey League game last month, has captured the attention of those in charge of safety at local hockey games in the Centretown region.
“What happened to the girl in Columbus is terrible,” says Mike Brennan, an arena foreman at Tom Brown Arena on Bayview Road. “It’s (safety) something that needs to be addressed.”
Brittanie Cecil was struck in the forehead when Columbus Blue Jackets forward Espen Knutsen’s shot deflected off of Calgary Flames defenceman Derek Morris’s stick, and into the crowd. Days later, Cecil died from complications of the blow at a local hospital.
To ensure the safety of spectators, Tom Brown Arena
provides protective netting above the glass at both ends of the rink. However, Brennan said that more could be done to protect fans.
“We have four-foot glass at the ends of the rinks,” he says, “but the glass along the sides is only two-feet high. There is still the possibility that people can get hurt if the puck comes their way.”
Although there have been no serious injuries to fans at Tom Brown Arena, Brennan, who has worked there for over 20 years, says that there have been people hit by pucks in the stands there, even recently, but changes to the arena are not in the immediate plans.
“It’s not in our current agenda,” adds Brennan. “With what has happened in Columbus though, we may have to look into making some changes, like putting up four-foot glass along the sides instead of the two-foot glass.”
In a strange twist of fate,
Ottawa 67’s forward Jeremy Akeson has had first-hand experience being an injured spectator. While attending an Ottawa Loggers roller hockey game at the Corel Centre two years ago, Akeson, who was sitting in the second row, was struck in the chest by an errant puck while talking to friends.
“I was stunned,” recalls Akeson. “All of a sudden a puck just came up and hit me in the chest. It was just a fluke accident.”
Akeson, who suffered a bruised chest from the blow, suggests that raising the glass along the sideboards could prevent such incidents from occurring.
Ticketmaster is responsible for selling tickets to many
hockey games, including
Ottawa Senators and Ottawa 67’s games. Even before the tragic death, Ticketmaster had a disclaimer on the back of their tickets saying fans assume, “all risks and danger of injury to person or property incidental to the event for which this ticket is issued whether occuring before, during, or after the event.”
Glen McCurdie, director of insurance at the Canadian Hockey Association says the disclaimer merely mitigates the potential damage of a lawsuit, and that more needs to be done to avoid future accidents.
“About 20 per cent of the cases that we deal with have to do with pucks hitting spectators, and a problem like that is something that can easily be dealt with,” McCurdie says.
Ottawa 67’s forward, Jonah Leroux says that it would be a good idea for arenas at every level of hockey to put up mesh similar to that of Tom Brown Arena’s netting, to stop errant pucks.
“At times, you see a little kid get hit, and it’s really sad to see,” says Leroux. “I don’t think that the mesh would distract the fans. It’s something that arenas can do to take a step in the right direction.”
Adding mesh to a hockey arena would provide valuable protection for spectators, however despite what Leroux says, the fear of obstructing a fans view of the game is clearly evident at the professional levels.
While some arenas at the
junior level already have the protective mesh, America West Arena in Phoenix is the only NHL level arena to implement a safety net for spectators.
Todd Jackson, manager of safety and risk at the C.H.A. says the death could have a positive impact for the future of spectator safety down the road.
“The incident was tragic, but it will raise awareness about fan safety,” he says. “Fans need to be aware of what is happening at all times, where they’re sitting, what is going on in the course of the hockey game. The incident, as tragic as it was can at least encourage that.”