A Hockey Game Accident

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superberkut

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2 days ago, I took part in a tournament hockey game as my team's goalie. Into the third game of the round robin (we were already eliminated by then), a goalmouth collision threw off my helmet and sent my head hard onto the ice. I cut my head on the edge of my helmet's backing, and the game was stopped for about 3 minutes. In that time, the back of my head was bleeding profusely and onto the ice, but I was conscious. It turned out that I received a cut and some very bad swelling in the area of my injury, but headwounds always bleed a lot, and I could skate to the bench. After some first aid, my head still hurt, but I returned to the game to finish off a 2-1 victory.

I share this story because I realized, in light of that accident, that things are really not quite what they seem. When I got up after the injury, I thought it was a minor hit until I felt a stream of blood down my back. While it disturbed me, I finally feel thankful for proper safety equipment whose absence could have made my fall much worse. Despite being a small accident, it changed some of my perspectives, which I know usually happens for the more critically injured. Now I feel that I understand what some members are going through in their lives, if only a small bit. However, I am sure that I know why there aren't many hockey players on GTP!
 
Hope your ok, I have had some semi-serious hockey injuries, a seperated shoulder, fractured radius (arm). The shoulder injury happened the first game of a tournament but didn't stop me from playing, a team trainer just taped me up for each game. The fractured radius happened when I hit a guy and fell ontop of him but my arm landed between me and his helmet and my elbow pad didnt do anything. I got up and scored but had to leave the game a couple of shifts later.

While playing street hockey I also got a plastic puck in the eye, I was playing goalie with no helmet and a dude wired a slapper at my head, I couldnt get out of the way in time and I went straight down. That was more serious, I was out of school and any activities for 3 weeks, I had to stay sitting on my couch with ruptured veins and blood vessels in my right eye. I couldnt see properly for about 2 months but it is all good now, that is definately the last time I don't wear a mask.
 
*whistles*

It looks like I'm making a show on nothing; those sounded serious! How many games did you miss after that, if any? I came back today to play 2 straight games, won 3-2 and 5-3 respectively. (another coach asked me to play)

The wound is actually fairly small, but it looks hideous right now.
 
Whenever you hit your head on the ice, there is chance of a concussion. It sounds like you're okay, but whenever you take a lick like that, it's never a bad idea to see a doctor. Blows to the head are never something to take lightly.
 
Good to hear you're alright, when I see a player go down after a strike up high I'm scared stiff. I don't play hockey (never could skate well) but I'm a huge fan. I'm not old enough to remember this, maybe someone here does, but anytime a goalie gets injured up high I think of the Clint Malarchuk incident. This is the unedited source tape from the game.

WARNING: Excessive bleeding. Squeamish folk, STAY AWAY.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=plvKlnguJVE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QaZXoZbvq9s
http://youtube.com/watch?v=maQuHpl7vM0
 
superberkut
After some first aid, my head still hurt, but I returned to the game to finish off a 2-1 victory.
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NICE! Seriously though, glad everything turned out ok for you. That sounds pretty serious. BTW, did you skimp out on your helmet or was it old or something?

As for me, I'm a D guy and on two occasions I've gotten pucks in the throat. Amazingly, nothing at all came of them. Oh and unfortunately because this town sucks ass when it comes to ice hockey I've only done roller hockey. It being really really expensive and me really really broke doesn't help either... :indiff:
 
Like I said, unedited source video. TV viewers saw the commercial.

And I haven't seen it, but apparently a player or two threw up upon sight.
 
I'm debating if I should watch those or not... I've seen hockey fight vids where someone is knocked cold, blood starts gushing, and it didn't bother me but...
 
i dont understand how people can find that stuff bothersome.

Its only blood?
 
Soooo glad that wasn't hi def... xD

Anyway, you wanna know why it's bothersome!? Play hockey...

If that's not enough for you... well, you know those things on your feet? yeah... Blades, what happens when a player falls? Blades fly... yeah. That's why it's bothersome.

Honestly, I'm surprised there aren't more sliced fingers... Want a perfect example of how it can happen? You got two blockheads fighting with no gloves on they both fall to the ice, someone puts their hand down to get up right as the refs skate over and stops... right on their hand. Yeah...

I'm kinda glad I'm in roller hockey at this point. xD
 
Luckily for me (I think...), during my hockey days I only had two broken thumbs. Not at the same time, of course. That's what going hard to the net will get you (besides a cross-check to the back). I scored on the play that broke my thumb and continued the rest of the game. Afterwards I couldn't get my glove off. Nowadays, both my thumbs 'lock-up' and it takes an effort to bend them sometimes. They make neat clicking noises. Ahhh, hockey.

I did take a stick blade to the top of my eyelid when a guy tried to lift my stick and missed. I went out and bought a visor the next day. Hockey!
 
Studentdriver
Like I said, unedited source video. TV viewers saw the commercial.

And I haven't seen it, but apparently a player or two threw up upon sight.
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Yep, two of his team mates threw up on site, several fans in the crowd fainted and I believe two fans also had heart attacks. He was saved by the team trainer who dug into his neck and pinched closed the severed artery until doctors could stitch the wound closed. They said he would have died in minutes if it wasn't for their team trainer.
 
Small_Fryz
i dont understand how people can find that stuff bothersome.

Its only blood?
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I saw the aftermath of the Zednik incident on some sports highlights last night, him rushing off the ice. I instantly felt the colour drain from my face and two minutes later I was bent over a toilet watching my supper come back up. :yuck: I didn't actually see him get sliced open, but I got a quick glimpse of a lot of blood, and when I couldn't shake the imagery from my head I got faint and sick. Even reviewing this thread and thinking abut it again gets me kinda light headed.
(and I absolutely will not watch those linked vids for fear of making a mess all over my desk)

Some people just can't deal with it.


edit: this makes a good case for always wearing a neck guard when playing hockey. I've never understood why more professionals don't.
 
They don't? Perhaps this may be similar to the rule against cage visors in the NHL. Head/neck injuries are probably the bigger issue, though, Bill Masterton having been the only fatality- oh, that's right. I meant impact injuries...

I think they (the administrative staff of the NHL) worry more about impact injuries than open wounds.
 
superberkut
They don't? Perhaps this may be similar to the rule against cage visors in the NHL. Head/neck injuries are probably the bigger issue, though, Bill Masterton having been the only fatality- oh, that's right. I meant impact injuries...

I think they (the administrative staff) worry more about impact injuries than open wounds.
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Apart from goalies, they don't. But I bet there'll be some guys pretty high up the pecking order talking about making neck guards a mandatory piece of equipment after this.

It's true though, anyone who has been watching the last few years will realize that injuries sustained from head shots, and heavy impacts with the boards or other players are a far larger concern for the league than this one (very disturbing) freak occurrence.




btw - I believe the rule about cages is actually to prevent injury to other players. One could get cut up pretty good and lose a few teeth as a player without a face shield by knocking heads with a player wearing a full cage.
 
Sureshot
Can someone hear a Famine coming?
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It's not that exciting.

But I am sitting, open-mouthed, at the thought of donning body armour to play field hockey - a sport where the projectile weighs about the same as an ice hockey puck (5.5oz) and travels at about the same speed as an ice hockey puck (85mph for an amateur with a decent grasp of the basics), but just won't stay on the floor...

The only player in field hockey to wear armour is the goalkeeper - who will typically have a helmet, throatguard, chest/shoulder guard, glove and pad, box (cup), hip pads, leg pads and kickers. The rest of us make do with plastic/foam shinpads...
 
Famine
It's not that exciting.

But I am sitting, open-mouthed, at the thought of donning body armour to play field hockey - a sport where the projectile weighs about the same as an ice hockey puck (5.5oz) and travels at about the same speed as an ice hockey puck (85mph for an amateur with a decent grasp of the basics), but just won't stay on the floor...

The only player in field hockey to wear armour is the goalkeeper - who will typically have a helmet, throatguard, chest/shoulder guard, glove and pad, box (cup), hip pads, leg pads and kickers. The rest of us make do with plastic/foam shinpads...
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Don't get me going on this again. :p You narrowly avoided my wrath yesterday.

In field hockey you also aren't moving anywhere near as quickly as in real hockey, and (as I understand it) body contact is not a part of the game.
 
Boundary Layer
Don't get me going on this again. :p You narrowly avoided my wrath yesterday.
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:D

Boundary Layer
In field hockey you also aren't moving anywhere near as quickly as in real hockey, and (as I understand it) body contact is not a part of the game.
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There's lots of contact in real hockey. I take down goalkeepers for fun.

Mind you, I went to see a fight once, but an ice hockey match broke out in the middle of it.
 
Famine
It's not that exciting.

But I am sitting, open-mouthed, at the thought of donning body armour to play field hockey - a sport where the projectile weighs about the same as an ice hockey puck (5.5oz) and travels at about the same speed as an ice hockey puck (85mph for an amateur with a decent grasp of the basics), but just won't stay on the floor...

The only player in field hockey to wear armour is the goalkeeper - who will typically have a helmet, throatguard, chest/shoulder guard, glove and pad, box (cup), hip pads, leg pads and kickers. The rest of us make do with plastic/foam shinpads...
Click to expand...

Everybody told me you played hockey, Famine, among other things.

Famine
I take down goalkeepers for fun.
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I'm not so sure if I want to be playing pick-up hockey with you...
 
superberkut
I'm not so sure if I want to be playing pick-up hockey with you...
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:D

Because I'm wearing pretty much just sports wear, a pair of grippy dimple shoes and shinpads, I'm just about as mobile as I get. Because the keeper is wearing 40lb of expanded foam, much of which makes his limbs 3 times their normal width, he's just about as restricted as it gets. He's standing up and I'm crouching - so I'm a highly mobile object with a low centre of gravity and a concentrated centre of mass, and he's a restricted blob with a high centre of gravity and a diffuse centre of mass... That's only going to go one way in a one-on-one.


Plus while he's wearing body armour I can't really inflict any physical injuries on him, so he's fair game... :D
 

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