Coroner calls for protective nets around arenas following hockey puck death

MONTREAL — The death of a 12-year-old girl after she was struck by a hockey puck has prompted a Quebec coroner to ask the province to study the possibility of installing protective nets in all arenas.

The accident occurred April 1, 2017, while Annie Alaku-Papigatuk was watching a hockey game in Salluit, a community in northern Nunavik. 

She was sitting in the second row around the middle of the rink where there was no protective net when a puck struck her in the head near her right eyebrow.  

A report by coroner Steeve Poisson says the young girl started crying, but did not lose consciousness. The girl said she was OK and able to walk and an adult who was with her applied a snow-filled bag to her head.