By Danny

In my last post, I talked about two incidents that are considered freak accidents in the world of hockey. Something happened Sunday night that will surpass them both.

From TSN.ca

Florida Panthers’ forward Richard Zednik remains in stable condition at Buffalo General Hospital after undergoing emergency surgery on his neck Sunday.

Zednik’s neck was cut by the blade of team mate Olli Jokinen’s skate during the third period of the Panthers’ 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at HSBC Arena. Zednik bled profusely from the cut but was able to skate toward his bench where he was met by the trainer and immediately ushered to the locker room.

Sonya Noor, M.D., the attending surgeon for Zednik, said the injured player would remain in the intensive care unit and will be evaluated throughout the day. Zednik’s wife Jessica flew to Buffalo late Sunday night along with Karen Cohen, the wife of Florida Panthers General Partner and Chairman of the Board/Chief Executive Officer Alan Cohen.

Both team mates and opponents were shaken by the episode.

“It is super scary whenever you get contact with an ice skate,” said Panthers coach Jacques Martin. “It was a good decision on his part to skate towards the bench. I think that saved some time and our trainers were right there to put pressure on it.”

Panthers defenceman Steve Montador recalled seeing Zednik in a state of shock as he got to the bench.

“He looked pale, he was obviously standing and to a degree, coherent. But he didn’t look as focused as you or I right now. He was staring at nothing,” Montador said. “That’s a pretty brave guy to realize what’s going on: Grab your neck and get off the ice.”

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If I am correct, only one player has died while on ice in the National Hockey League, and that was from a puck to the head. Zednik, is very lucky to have not become the second.

There is talk of this becoming a safety issue within the league now, and I believe that perhaps if players in the league were required to wear neck guards (like in minor hockey), this whole incident could have been avoided.

Here is a video of the accident (very graphic)

Lets hope a fatal accident never happens in the sports world again.

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