On-ice horror
Panther's Zednik takes skate blade to neck
February 20, 2008
Josh Schweitzer
Just over one week ago, the National Hockey League experienced something that has only ever happened once before, but now makes everyone wonder how it doesn’t happen more often. Midway through the third period of a Sunday evening game, with the Buffalo Sabres leading the Florida Panthers 4-3, Panther’s forward Richard Zednik took a flying skate to his neck at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York.
As line mate Olli Jokinen was fore checking Sabres centerman Clarke MacArthur deep in the Sabres’ zone, the two got caught up and went down in a tumble. Jokinen fell forward and his legs accidentally flew up into the air behind him, thus catching and slicing the right side of Zednik’s neck with his skate blade. The contact opened a three inch gash that stopped just shy of his jugular vein, but almost completely severed his carotid artery. Blood quickly began spewing from the wound.
Zednik was able to skate to the Panther’s bench as fast as he could, and left a bloody path on the ice as he went. As he was being helped onto the bench and into the tunnel, it was apparent that Zednik was slowly dying as his face was turning ghastly white and his limbs began to go limp.
He was immediately moved to Buffalo General Hospital and remained conscious until his emergency surgery. The operation went very smoothly as the skate blade did not cut any other veins or arteries, nor did it cause any serious nerve damage. In addition, the artery was reattached very quickly as it was not entirely severed. This also decreased the chances of any brain damage.
Back at the HSBC Arena, the game was delayed 15 minutes as the blood was cleaned from the ice as a sell-out crowd of 19,000 fans, along with players, coaches and league officials, stood in stunned silence. When news of Zednik’s stable condition reached the HSBC Arena, the fans gave a standing ovation and both teams decided to finish the nine minutes and 56 seconds that remained in the third period. The Sabres went on to win the hockey game 5-3.
A 12-year NHL veteran, Zednik was in the first year of a two-year contract with the Panthers, and after a slow start had compiled six goals and three assists in his last five games. He has 15 goals and 11 assists in 54 games this season.
Now you go...
Got something to say?