NHL Player in Stable Condition After Throat Is Slashed by Skate

FOXNews.com ^ | Monday, February 11, 2008 | Associated Press

[metmom]

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Florida Panthers goalie Thomas Vokoun saw fear in Richard Zednik's ashen face when his teammate reached the bench with blood gushing from his throat.

"He was very scared," Vokoun said, describing the frightening scene after the right side of Zednik's throat was accidentally sliced by teammate Olli Jokinen's skate during a game at Buffalo on Sunday night. "He was conscious, I guess. His eyes were closed, but he was moving and moaning."

[metmom]

OUCH. I'm so glad he's OK. That could not have ended so well.

[metmom]

Busy week in NY, not counting the weather.

[Phantom Lord]

The name escapes me, but a Buffalo goalie near 20 years ago had his throat slit by a skate during a game.

[Puppage]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9hcYZSPLNI

[Phantom Lord]

Hey, look at that. It was in the article.

Zednik's injury was eerily reminiscent of an injury sustained by Sabres goaltender Clint Malarchuk about 19 years ago at Buffalo's Memorial Auditorium. On March 22, 1989, Malarchuk severed his jugular vein when St. Louis Blues forward Steve Tuttle was upended while skating toward the crease, slicing Malarchuk with a skate.

Malarchuk required over 300 stitches but spent only one night in the hospital, returning to practice after four days. On April 2, he played the final five minutes in the season finale, less than two weeks after his injury.

[rsflynn]

Saw the video this morning. His carotid artery was hit. Blood almost immediately started spraying all over the ice. It was pretty gruesome.

[pepperhead]

Scary stuff, I am happy Zednik is ok.

[misterrob]

Clint Malarchuk I believe....

[metmom]

Thanks for the link. What a fluke accident. I can’t imagine how he was able to skate to the bench but no doubt it saved his life.

[metmom]

hockey ping

[Phantom Lord]

I haven’t seen video of Zednik’s injury yet, but don’t think it can compete with Malarchuk’s. By far the most blood I have ever seen in sports.

[Dr.Deth]

Someone recently put the raw feeds from the broadcast truck during the 1989 Malarchuk incident up on YouTube:

(Extremely graphic, blood warning, this is 100 times worse than the Zednik video I've seen so if you're squeamish don't even think about clicking it)

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

[Intimidator]

Glad he’s ok, saw that on the news this morning

[SpinnerWebb]

bflv

[Tallguy]

I remember a similar thing happening in the late ‘70’s to Rick MacLeish of the Philadelphia Flyers.

[mikrofon]

No thanks, don’t need to see that again. Didn’t need to see it happen to Zednik last night either...

Glad to hear he’s on the mend.

[Gator101]

They ought to design a guard for this. I was thinking of something like a small strip of chain mail that is sewn into the collar of the shirt they wear under their pads. Extend the collar up, a little like a turtle neck, and it could be quite flexible and comfortable but still keep a skate blade from penetrating in a critical area.

How about it Under Armour?

[CharlesWayneCT]

I thought this also happened to a Washington Capitols goalie once, but maybe I’m confusing it with one of the other incidents.

[Tallguy]

I can’t say that I remember the incident to which you refer. I haven’t really followed the NHL closely for around 20 years. It’s not suprising that this kind of thing would happen to goalies since they are often down & surrounded by a scrum.

[Dr.Deth]

Malarchuk was a veteran goalie for Quebec Nordiques and Washington Capitals, IIRC he’d just been traded to Buffalo for defenceman Calle Johansson and was hurt while playing for Sabres.