BROOMFIELD, Colo. (KDVR) — A Broomfield teenager is recovering after his neck was sliced by a skate during a hockey game Friday.

Reed Borgman is the son of a KDVR employee, he was injured when he and another player fell to the ice.

“While I was falling down, his skate hit my neck and sliced it. I didn’t really know what happened at the time,” Reed said.

His father, Ryan Borgman, took him to an urgent care for stitches and Reed is going to be fine. 

But it was a close call. In rare cases, other players have died from similar injuries.

Providers told the family that if the cut was one inch over, it could have been deadly.

“It was scary. I got chills because you think about what could have happened,” Ryan said.

The Borgmans will now require Reed to wear a neck guard moving forward, and they wonder why it isn’t a requirement.

In a statement earlier this year, USA Hockey said:

USA Hockey continues to recommend a neck laceration protector for all players. The heightened discussions around lacerations from a skate blade reinforce the recommendation that players wear a neck laceration protector that covers as much of the neck as possible along with cut-resistant socks, sleeves or undergarments. USA Hockey, led by its safety and protective equipment committee, will work with equipment companies and maintain efforts to ensure the safest possible environment for all participants.

USA Hockey statement

It added, “There is sparse data on neck laceration prevalence, severity and neck laceration protector [neck guard] effectiveness.”

Dr. Steve Cobb, who previously provided care for a minor league hockey team, said it’s worth discussing.

 “Even though it’s rare, it is potentially catastrophic,” Cobb said.

“I do know that in other countries they require neck guards for hockey players, and we certainly don’t in the United States,” he said.

Right now, there is a Change.org petition requesting that neck guards be mandatory to play hockey. So far, there are more than 136,000 signatures.