Posted on 05/24/2010 4:46:12 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith hopped back onto the ice Sunday after losing seven teeth when he was hit in the mouth with a puck.
But now hear this: Hall of Famer Stan Mikita not only lost teeth playing hockey, he once returned to action after losing an ear lobe.
"I got one (puck) glance off my eyeball and my nose that nailed me pretty good. I couldn't see good for two or three days," the former Blackhawks center (1958-80) recalled Monday. "I got hit three or four times with the puck. If you're skating across the line of fire and you don't know if the guy is going to hoist it or whatever....yeah, I have been there.
"But the strangest one was in Pittsburgh when we were on a power play and Doug Mohns shot the puck from the blue line. One of the Pittsburgh players put his stick down so that the blade was aimed right at me. It hit the blade, bounced straight up in the air and it cut my ear off...my ear lobe. There was blood everywhere and our trainer came out. He said: 'Come out, you've got a pretty bad one.' As we were skating, the towel covering where my ear was looked like a red sweater, full of blood. So then they are sewing my ear back on. My wife was watching the game on TV and she thought it was my eye again. So I called her and said: 'It's my ear, and they are sewing it back on; I'll be home at 2:30.'
Photo: Hawks great Stan Mikita lost four teeth playing hockey and had an ear lobe severed. (Phil Velasquez/Tribune) "The next day, our assistant trainer grabbed one of the plastic protective cups we used to wear. He said: 'You know, if you turn this thing upside down and tape it to your ear, you could probably play tonight.' It hurt a little bit, but they had to freeze my ear to sew it back on."
Mikita was the star center of the renowned "Scooter Line,"with right wing Ken Wharram and left wingers Ab McDonald and Mohns. In Mikita's second full year of 1961, the Hawks won the Stanley Cup. He is the only player in NHL history to win the Hart, Art Ross, and Lady Byng trophies in the same season, doing so in consecutive seasons, in 1966-67 and 1967-68.
He also lost four teeth playing hockey. " My middle two went with a hockey stick when I was 14 years old," he said. "I didn't wear braces or anything like that or mouthguards. I lost the other two in my first year as a pro. Those came out with a little brush with a shoulder and an elbow."
Mikita was born in Slovakia as Stanislav Guoth. He moved to St. Catharines, Ontario, as a youngster to escape Communist-controlled Czechoslovakia. He was adopted by his aunt and uncle who gave him their surname, Mikita.
Asked what it feels like to have your teeth knocked out, Mikita responded: "You want me to try it on you? If you get hit solid by something like a puck, it deadens everything. I have a lot of (teeth) broken right at the gum line. Another one drove into my gums, toward my nose. So I had to have minor surgery. I had a good doctor, a nice Italian fellow, and I still go to him 45 years later."
Mikita, who celebrated his 70th birthday last Thursday, didn't think he would see the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup playoffs again.
"Not until Rocky (Wirtz) came along and decided to clean house and hire the right people, including management and players," said Mikita, who is now employed as a team ambassador. "John McDonough knows how to get some people in the (United Center) place. Right after Rocky said, 'You can have hockey on your television sets, and let's see if people will still come out.' Well, try getting a ticket now.
"I was 20 years old when we won it in '61. Bobby (Hull) and I were just talking about that particular thing. You get lucky and you win the Stanley Cup and you say, 'Boy, this will go on forever.'
"But forever lasted one year."
huh?
I remember seeing a video some time back of a goalie who got his throat slit by an opposing players ice skate blade. An ear lobe is one thing...the jugular is another.
Here’s the video clip...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs_d8bHn4QA
Keith Magnuson, I believe, stopped slap shots with his face. He also injured NUMEROUS players hands with just his face.
The goalie was Clint Malarchuk. Happened in March of 1989.
I first started watching the Blackhawks back in the late 60’s; early 70’s. I think Lloyd Petit was the announcer. I lost track of them for decades but have been watching this playoff series. VERY fun to watch. The skill level of these players and the grit displayed is inspiring. There are many baseball, soccer, football players that would take themselves out for a tight hamstring.
I will never forget watching him and Kenny, and later Bobby Hull, moving in for the kill back in those great original six days.
GO FLYERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Malarchuk's life was saved by Pizzutelli, a former army medic who had served in Vietnam. He reached into Malarchuk's neck and pinched off the bleeding, not letting go until doctors arrived to begin suturing the wound.
Here is what Wiki has to say about Clint Malarchuk’s injury.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clint_Malarchuk
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