Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins was hit in the face with a skate on Sunday during the game against the Rangers. We all know what happened with Zednik earlier this season when his Florida Panther teammate accidentally had his skate fall into his neck, cutting his carotid artery. There have been a few other instances of skates to the face since Zednik was injured as well.
While Malkin's injury wasn't anywhere close to being as serious as Zednik's, it goes to show how dangerous this sport can be. Hockey is a violent sport filled with guys who have earned the reputation as being some of the toughest in sports.
Only one other player in the NHL's history has taken a skate to the neck, that was Clint Malarchuk. Clint was in goal for the Buffalo Sabres when the play came at him. After making the save, he was shoved around by the opposing player and was cut by the skate. Here's a clip of it, if you have the stomach for the blood: http://youtube.com/watch?v=_CI7c-rxFMU. He was back in goal two weeks after the accident. That's one tough hockey player.
Some players wear turtle necks to avoid such an incident, but there's obviously no guarentee with a bunch of cloth. I did see that there is a shirt that they will be able to wear that has a Kevlar turtle neck to help protect their necks. These could end up becoming a permanant part of the players' equipment.
1 comments:
holy schnickees!
Post a Comment