When Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Jack Watson takes the ice, a neck guard is one of several pieces of equipment the junior goaltender puts on.

“I think you worry about it more off the ice,” said Watson. “When you’re in it, you’re just in the flow.”

Union net minder Kyle Chauvette and Buffalo Sabres goalie Devon Levi also don neck protection when playing hockey.

“I’ve been wearing it since, like, I can’t even remember, since a little kid,” Levi said. “So it just feels natural to wear one. I never took it off.”

“I don’t think it would be a bad thing if players have to wear one,” Chauvette said.

But away from the net, it’s hard to spot a defenseman or a forward rocking a neck guard. However, some players are warming up to the protective equipment after Adam Johnson was cut in the neck by a skate and died during a game in England.

“For me, it wasn’t a big deal growing up, and then I got here and I somehow stopped using it. But I think it’s an important equipment,” said Rasmus Dahlin, a defenseman for the Sabres. Dahlin played youth hockey in his home country of Sweden, where neck guards were mandatory.

He wore the protective equipment for one period last week against the Philadelphia Flyers. They’re currently not mandated by the NHL and NCAA, and there’s still some hesitation on if it should be enforced.

“I think we have to be very respectful of an accidental death, and hope that it never happens again. And take appropriate measures,” said Dave Smith, head coach for RPI men’s hockey. “And it’s not for me to decide what’s appropriate.”

“I don’t want to say you have to mandate it, but at the same point, I think people have to take a step back and ‘is it something you should have on?’ ” said Josh Hague, the head coach of Union men’s hockey program.

The KIJHL and the WHL have decided to mandate neck guard protection for all players in the wake of Johnson’s death. However, the Elite Ice Hockey League, in which Johnson was playing, will not enforce neck guards, but rather “strongly encourage players and officials” to wear one.

“It’s part of the game. Unfortunately, guys do get cut,” Watson said. “And it’s just an unfortunate reality.”