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As shinny season approaches, the provincial government has unveiled new safetyguidelines for hockey nets used at outdoor municipal rinks.

The new rules, released last Friday, are in response to a coroner’s report that looked into the death of nine-year-old Javier Alexis Urquiaga, who died after an outdoor hockey net fell on him in February 2013 in St-Séverin, a village about 200 kilometres northeast of Montreal in the Mauricie region.

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Coroner Raynald Gauthier called the boy’s death avoidable and noted that the net in question was artisanal and did not conform to standards in terms of the depth of its base, which compromised its stability.

The regulations, prepared by the education ministry, break down the types of hockey nets into five groups, and assess the need for extra surveillance or storage with each category depending on the season since some rinks are used for ball hockey during the summer months.