GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The academic year was 1958-59, the location was Northfield, Minn., the sport was hockey, my school was St. Olaf College.

It was my first year there, and freshmen were not eligible to play NCAA varsity sports at that time. We had something like a 3-game schedule all winter for us rookies.

We had no indoor rink, and as players, we teamed up to scrape the outdoor ice ourselves between periods of a game, or during practice. If you wanted to play, you paid the price.

Dave Olson and I were the two goalies on the St. Olaf freshman team, so playing time was scare for both of us.

We played a game against cross-town rival Carleton College's freshman team, and the Carls had just one goalie, Dave Hyduke from Hibbing, I believe.

The plan was for me to play the first half of the game in goal for the Oles, Olson to play the last half.

We were up 6-0, I think, when Olson came in to replace me midway through the game. A few minutes later, one our players slid into the Carleton goal, his skate slicing into the knee of Hyduke, causing a considerable cut.

Their coach said they would have to forfeit the rest of the game, since Hyduke could no longer play. But since we had so a limited schedule of games, and we valued a rare game when one came along, I volunteered to finish the game as Carleton's goalie.

There really weren't NCAA regulations on freshmen teams, other than we couldn't play on the varsity, so I slipped on a Carleton jersey and we finished the game. I feared of being accused of running up the score, so I played my best hockey ever, and shut out my St. Olaf teammates the last half of the game.

To this day, I believe I am the only college athlete to play for two different colleges in one game!! A short clip in the Minneapolis newspaper had a headline that read, "Goalie wins, loses in same game.'' I could argue with the accuracy of that, but I'll it go.

I couldn't help but think of how an injury can turn a game, a life, upside down in a flash. Hyduke recovered in time from his sliced knee, and we threw out the rules of the game so we players could finish the game. All was good.

I didn't wear a helmet or a facemask back in those days. They came out with a clear plastic shield my senior year, but being that we played outside, they fogged up immediately, so were useless. Because curved stick blades weren't in use then, I only got hit by the puck twice in the face, needing stitches, once over the eye, once in the mouth.

All that came to mind this week when I read of the death of former Hibbing, Minn., and Minnesota Duluth player Adam Johnson when he died after a wayward skate blade of an opponent sliced into his neck during a game in England. Hyduke had a skate blade cut into his leg, and he recovered. Johnson took the blade to his throat, and he had no chance.

As great of a sport as hockey is, it can be a dangerous game, played at a high speed, with razor-sharp blades on the skates of the players.

I remember seeing Adam Johnson score the winning goal for Coach Scott Sandelin's Bulldogs in overtime to beat Boston University in the NCAA regional in Fargo in 2017. That sent the Bulldogs to the Frozen Four, and it was the last time I saw him play in person.

In 2016, NCAA hockey referee Butch Mousseau died when he fell during pre-game warmups and hit his head on the ice at a college game in Grand Rapids, Mich. Helmets were mandatory for referees in games, but not in warmups at time and he didn't have his helmet on. Now they are.

In 1968, Bill Masterton of the Minnesota North Stars, when just a few players wore helmets, fell on the ice in a game against the Oakland Seals and cracked his head, dying from that. It took 11 years for NHL to pass a rule making helmets mandatory. Masterton was a two-time All-America player at Denver University and led the Pioneers to two NCAA titles.

In the early 1990s, UND defenseman Mitch Vig had his wrist cut by the skate blade of a teammate during a practice session at old Ralph Engelstad Arena. Quick work by the UND trainers kept that from being a tragedy as well.

In 1995, in a UND game at Boston University, UND's opponent this weekend, Terrier rookie Travis Roy, lost his balance as he moved toward the end boards to check the same Mitch Vig. Roy tripped and lost his balance and crashed head-first into the end boards, through no fault at all by Vig.

It was 11 seconds into Roy's first varsity game _ and his last. He was paralyzed from the accident, and at age 45, died 25 years to the day after the Oct. 20 date of his injury in that game against North Dakota.

And now with this catastrophic injury to Johnson, it is once again time for hockey to take a step to make more protective gear mandatory. Neck guards are used in some levels of hockey, but rarely by players at the pro or college level. It is time for that to change, and I think it will, hopefully soon.

Just like eye visors were once frowned upon by macho-men hockey players, they are now standard gear at all levels. 

T.J. Oshie, the former Warroad and UND hockey great, has a sporting goods company that makes neck shields, among other items. He reports his supply has sold out after the injury to Johnson. Perhaps Oshie will help spearhead the movement in the NHL to make those mandatory, and that will trickle down rapidly to all levels.

Hockey is a great game, a game I played, I game I love, a game I partly made a living as journalist writing about.

If wrist guards, neck guards are the equipment changes that can be mandated to protect the athletes, the time is now to mandate it.


Virg Foss was the beat writer for UND hockey for 35 seasons from 1969 until 2005. He covered NCAA title teams in 1980, 1982, 1987, 1997 and 2000 while at the Herald. He has written about UND hockey for 19 additional seasons since his retirement from the newspaper business, including the NCAA championship team of 2015-16. He can be reached at virgfoss@yahoo.com.