After Hockey Accident Ends in Tragedy, One Family Aims to Raise Awareness

When asked how to describe Henry Lent, the first thing that his father Mark Lent said was, "he loved hockey."
Simply put, hockey was Henry's life, but it was at the rink that his life tragically ended at 13 years old.

It's a story you never fathom having to tell about your own child, let alone one that was a tragic preventable accident.
The Lent family moved to Carroll County just two years ago, and a big part of the move was so Henry could be closer to the DMV area where youth hockey is thriving.
Moving to the area also brought him into the world of the Capitals, a team he quickly fell in love with. Henry had been to two Capitals games and even had the opportunity to skate at Capital One Arena before a Saturday night game.
For a kid who was as obsessed with hockey as Henry, this was a dream come true.

He started playing the game when he was four years old and practically played year-round because he just couldn't get enough of the game.
"He was really driven. He was a really big competitor," said Mark. "When I would watch him on the bench, he was never goofing around, was always watching game play talking to his linemates pointing out what was going on."
As is typical for youth players, Henry usually wore a neck guard. But on the day of the accident, he had lost his and thus wasn't wearing it when he took the ice at Capital Clubhouse.
During the clinic on August 18, he was skating around and behind the net while other players were taking slapshots towards the net.
One of those slapshots struck Henry in the neck causing a catastrophic brain injury and a severed artery. Henry was rushed to a D.C. hospital, where he tragically died with his parents at his side.

Now just nearly two short months after the worst day of the Lent's lives, it is important to them to educate and spread awareness about the significance of proper equipment and proper education about how players should be paying attention to their surroundings on the ice.
USA Hockey does recommend neck guards for all participants but does not require it at any level of the game.
"Most kids don't wear neck guards at Henry's age, because it's not cool and the pros don't wear it," Mark said. "I would like to see an increase of the use of neck guards of any kind and the development and education about neck guards that would prevent something like this that happened to Henry."
Through research, Mark found a company that has created a neck guard that has a foam insert along with the same normal anti-laceration material that would ideally help absorb the shock.
Had Henry had his neck guard on and the players taking slapshots had been paying better attention to when guys were near the net, this accident possibly would not have happened.
"This is painful and I don't want this to happen to anyone else," said Mark.

Since the accident, the Lents have discussed wanting to do something special annually to honor Henry's life with his friends and fellow hockey players.
"I think Henry would have preferred to do something a little different and unique other than a normal tournament," said Mark.
So they've come up with the idea of doing something like the NHL All-Star skills competition that includes fastest skater, 3v3 play etc.
"It would be a fitting honor and Henry would have liked doing that himself."
At the time of this article, through the generosity of the hockey community, friends have been able to raise close to $80,000 for the Lent family. If you have any interest in donating to the GoFundMe, please
click here
.