Thank God he wore a neck guard. That sport is getting out of hand. It was always a bit rough but players raising their blades is terrible. Sometimes it’s just a natural reflexive reaction to defend yourself with your legs but at age 11 it’s not natural to have excess discipline or learn to just take the hit you see coming at you.
I haven’t done a lot of ice skating, but in my youth, we used to go to the rink in the mall. Every pair of skates I’ve ever worn were flat bottomed, never sharpened to a point. While I appreciate that even the flat edge could do some damage, is it common to sharpen ice skates to an edge that could actually slice open skin?
Another centimeter deeper and his carotid artery would have been severed...he would have died. Lucky boy.