Most Brutal Hockey Injuries (Part IV)

Jeremy Roenick Jiggles His Shattered Jaw

Before you read this article, take a deep breath. During a 1999 game with the Coyotes, Stars player Jeremy Roenick flew into the boards face first. The hit broke his jaw in three places. As he gets up, he takes a minute to push the broken jaw pieces back into place with his hand. Seeing this isn’t for the faint of heart. Shockingly, Roenick went off to the locker room, had the medics wire his jaw shut and in place, and then went back to the ice to play.

Kevin Stevens Destroys His Face

When Kevin Stevens got this injury, he didn’t even know it happened, because he was out cold. During a playoff game in ‘93, Stevens fell into the boards with an opponent and things went south. As the two collided, Stevens’s face hit the helmet of the other player and he was out cold. The impact broke almost every bone in his face.

But there’s more. In order to fix his face, he required reconstructive surgery so extreme that doctors cut his face at the hairline, then peeled everything back to put in actual metal plates. Stevens went on to play, but he was never the same.

Steve Moore Is Sucker Punched

This is considered as one of the dirtiest hits ever in the game of hockey. In 2004, during a game between the Canucks and the Avalanche, things were going as usual. There had been fights and Steve Moore pretty much had a target on him. One player with a history of rough playing, Todd Bertuzzi, stepped to Moore and tried to start a fight.

Moore was having it and went to skate away. As he did this, Bertuzzi grabbed Moore, sucker punched him, then slammed his body face-first down into the ice. Moore lay motionless on the ice until medics came and carried him off.

Moore suffered three fractured vertebrae, a concussion, vertebral ligament damage, stretching of the brachial plexus nerves, and facial lacerations. He never played in NHL again.

Most Brutal Hockey Injuries (Part III)

Börje Salming Has His Face Stepped On

Hockey skates are sharp, but no one knows better than Börje Salming. In a 1986 game, Salming, of the Toronto Maple Leafs, fell on the ice during a scuffle, and a player accidentally stepped on him. This doesn’t sound too bad until you realize the player stepped down with his full weight, on his skate-clad foot, directly into the middle of Salming’s face. The injury was deep and required over 200 stitches in order to be fixed.

A teammate remarked that he looked like the side of a softball after a game. However, Salming recovered from the injury, went on to have an award-filled career, and even earned a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Sami Salo Shatters a Testicle

Sometimes you gotta take one for the team. With seconds ticking down in the

first period of a 2010 playoff game, Canucks player Sami Salo stepped in front of a shot, trying to block it from going into his net. He succeeded, but at quite a price. The slapshot hit him traveling at an incredibly high speed and, despite his wearing a cup, Salo caught all the force in his testicles. One of them ruptured upon being hit, and Salo dropped to the ice in obvious agony.

Surgery was necessary to repair the testicle. Everyone, including the opponent who took the shot, probably felt more empathy than usual for this particular hockey injury.

Ladislav Nagy Has His Throat Cut, Still Makes a Line Change

It’s hard to say what goes through the mind of a hockey player when they get injured, but for Ladislav Nagy, we at least know his head was still in the game. When an opposing player fell awkwardly during a Continental Hockey League game in 2015, the skate came up and caught Nagy in the throat. He reacted right away… by skating to the bench to make sure he could get a line change, so his teammates wouldn’t be short-handed.

No stopping the game. No calling for a whistle. He skates to the bench then sits there for a moment, bleeding profusely, before a trainer approaches him to let him know that they need to do something about this right now. The injury was not deadly and Nagy recovered.

Most Brutal Hockey Injuries (Part II)

Max Pacioretty Hits the Boards

Over 6’5, Zdeno Chara is a real big guy. He is considered one of the tallest NHL players in history. This translates to when he hits you, you feel it. A controversial play that took place in 2011, Max Pacioretty was on the receiving end of a hit by Chara.

Chara & Pacioretty

As the two went for the puck, Chara hit Pacioretty sending him into the edge of the boards between the benches, clotheslining him. Pacioretty was out cold before he hit the ice. He wasn’t moving even as emergency medics came on the ice to his aid. The looks on the faces of the fans say it all.

When it was all over, Pacioretty had a neck fracture and a concussion. He did play hockey again.

Chara wasn’t suspended for what many felt was an intentionally hazardous hit. The boards were permanently changed to guarantee nothing like this occurred again.

Richard Zednik Catches a Skate to the Neck

During this routine play, Richard Zednik of the Florida Panthers goes into the boards, falls, and then races to the bench bleeding abundantly. What happened? As one of his teammates fell, his skate blade sliced Zednik’s carotid artery. Zednik survived the injury and was back playing hockey in a few weeks.

Bill Masterton Dies

You may know the NHL has a Bill Masterton trophy, but you might not know about the man behind the award. Bill Masterton played as a Minnesota North Star in the 60’s and things were going well until January 15, 1968, when he took a bad hit and fell hard. He hit the back of his head on the ice and since players didn’t wear helmets then, he lost consciousness right away. A day after the hit, Bill Masterton died from his injuries.

He is the only NHL player to have died from an on-ice hockey injury.

Most Brutal Hockey Injuries (Part I)

Hockey is a vicious sport, as any hockey player can attest. But sometimes hockey gets a little more vicious than it should and we’re not just talking about dropping gloves. Hockey injuries can be so severe that they make you sick to your stomach, totally forgetting it’s just a game. So, what are some of the most brutal hockey injuries ever? Following is a collection of them.

While there haven’t been many hockey deaths, that doesn’t mean these injuries from being extremely gruesome. Big men skating over 25 mph, skate blades, and sticks.. where’s the harm?

Ice Hockey – Heavy tackle

Be warned, hockey isn’t typically for the weak at heart. If you can’t stomach some high-impact grizzly stuff, these articles might not be for you. Might you try tennis?

 Clint Malarchuk Gets His Throat Slit

There are so many aspects of this incident that is difficult to hear about. In a collision with the goalie, Clint Malarchuk, nothing seems off. However, all of a sudden, there’s pools of blood on the ice.

Apparently, as Malarchuk crashes into the net with another player, one of the player’s skates comes up in a strange way and slices open Malarchuk’s carotid artery. As he was taken off the ice, a few people in the stands faint, two go into cardiac arrest, and many of the hockey players vomited.

Amazingly, Malarchuk survived the injury thanks to some extremely skilled surgeons and a quick-acting trainer who squeezed Malarchuk’s neck, cutting off the flow of blood until medical professionals arrived. It took more than 250 sutures to close the vein and the wound.

No surprise at all, all goalies today have to wear neck protection when they are on the ice. This is considered as one of the worst sports injuries of all time. If you want to see this injury up close and personal, there is an online video of it.

Hey Chicago, Enjoy Patrick Kane While You Can!

With 50 games, Patrick Kane is on a streak for 68 assists, 114 points, and 46 goals. All of these will set or tie career-highs.

Kane has assisted or scored on 46% of the Blackhawk’s 155 goals. Only Connor McDavid has been in a higher percentage of his team’s goals this season.

Kane is at 899 points in his NHL career. Only 112 players have ever gotten to the 900-point milestone. Kane will be the 113th.

When he retires, there’s a real solid chance he completes his career as the best American-born player in the history of hockey. He is already at number 13 in points when it comes to players born in the US.

Looking at Kane’s Career

When you look back on Kane’s career, several highlights stand out. His list of accomplishments keeps growing.

How can you not remember the late-game goal against the Nashville Predators, changing the direction of the series with just 13 seconds left in the game?

How can you not remember his game-winning goal in overtime of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, gliding the puck under Michael Leighton and snapping a 49 yea-old Stanley Cup drought in Chicago?

How can you not remember the no-look Savardian Spin-o-rama pass to Marian Hossa against the Ducks? Or the one he did against the Stars?

How can you not remember the move against Jonathan Quick in the ‘13 Western Conference Finals sending hats flying onto the United Center ice and the Blackhawks into the Stanley Cup Final?

How can you not remember the double-overtime dangle that won in St. Louis? Or the overtime win goal to clinch the series against the Wild?

Enjoy watching Patrick Kane while you can. One day, the #88 will hang from the rafters of the United Center in Chicago preserved in the distinguished history of the franchise.

Important Hockey Rules

A youth hockey coach doesn’t desire putting players on the ice until they have some know-how of hockey rules. This will nurture a strong, safe playing setting.

USA Hockey state in its rules that coaches don’t overemphasis winning, but school hockey skills and educate players to play by the rules. Here are important hockey rules to get kids learning about the sport:

Hold the stick. It all begins with a player learning how to hold the hockey stick right. A player’s use of his hockey stick is reduced to playing the puck and not getting an unjust advantage against an opposing player’s body. The stick can’t be used to stop another player’s progress.

Broken stick. A player with a broken stick must drop it and stay on the ice without a stick until there is a stop in play. He may join in the action once he drops the stick. A minor penalty will be enforced for an infraction of this hockey rule. In a stoppage of play, a defenseman or forward can go the bench to retrieve a replacement stick, but the goaltender must get a replacement stick brought to him.

Different penalties. A bench or minor penalty lasts two minutes, while a major

No fighting!

penalty lasts five minutes. A misconduct penalty lasts 10 minutes. Unlike the other penalties, a replacement player is quickly let on the ice while it is being served. A match penalty means the player is taken out of the game and will get a suspension. During a penalty, the maximum number of players a team can be down is two. A delayed penalty, done at the end of other penalties, is used when additional penalties are given to a team.

Fighting. Don’t let your players make the mistakes like professional players. A major penalty shall be given to any player who fights during a youth hockey game.

Is the NHL at Fault for the Downfall of the 2018 Men’s Olympic Hockey Team?

When the 1980 US men’s hockey team beat the Soviet Union and took gold, they did it with a roster full of unknown players. 38 years later, the US team will try to win its 1st gold since the “Miracle On Ice.”

Arcobello, a forward who last played with the Toronto Maple Leafs two seasons ago and now gets a paycheck from Bern SC where he is a scoring star. J. Blum, a 2007 first-round defenseman pick of the Nashville Predators who fought to stick in the NHL and has instead spent his last 3 seasons in Russia. Goalie D. Leggio, a 33-year old minor leaguer now plays for Germany. Players with likewise middling resumes complete the rest of the roster spots for the US who will open on Wednesday against Slovenia. Miles away, US star Auston Matthews will play the Columbus Blue Jackets in Toronto.

When the NHL decided last April that it won’t allow its players to be in the Olympics for the first time since 1994, it doomed the men’s hockey team to 2nd rate status. Or blessed it, how you want to look at it. NHL players are great, but there’s something fresh about the way it will be this time. Let’s take advantage of that. We see how good we are.

To achieve that, Granato may want to use the famous Herb Brooks quote from Miracle, when the renowned coach tells his underdog team: “You think you can win on talent alone? Men, you don’t possess sufficient talent to win on talent.” While there is a real nostalgic sense to men’s ice hockey this year, America isn’t alone in being made to play without its top talent. That might have been the issue with how it turned out. Oh, well, maybe next Olympics pro players might be back in.

US Women’s Hockey Team Wins 2018 Olympic Gold!

It’s incredible to measure exactly how much Team USA’s unbelievable solidarity last season led to its 1st gold medal in 20 years. However, any team that can back up its difficulties with that kind of show deserves all the kudos thrown its way.

As the US celebrated the conclusion of a stunning run of bad luck in the Olympics with their 3-2 shootout win over Canada in the gold medal game, it might have been simpler to forget that less than 12 months ago, the U.S. women’s program was in shambles. The team warned of boycotting the World Women’s Championship due to the huge discrimination between not only the men’s and women’s teams in the US, but a big gap between the benefits compared to their Canadian rivals.

And this isn’t just about money. What these extraordinarily brave women desired was equality. While the moguls were trashing their rooms, the women’s team was winning their 1st gold medal in women’s hockey, a feat that was overlooked when US Hockey put out its men’s’ and women’s’ sweaters for the 2014 Games.

Those sweaters, the women’s and men’s, paid tribute to the male winners in ‘60 and ‘80, while totally ignoring the women’s accomplishment in ‘98. The marketing chances weren’t there. The money was terrible. A program that had won 7 gold medals and 10 silvers in 17 World Championships to that point was always thriving forward. The men’s program that hadn’t won a World Championship since ‘33 or a silver medal since ‘56 was treated like royalty.

So if you’re a female who has desires of playing hockey for the US someday and Amanda Kessel or Hilary Knight come to your school, you might want to take a minute to thank them for the legacy they left off and on the ice.

When Ice Hockey was a Summer Sport

It’s difficult to visualize a group of hockey players grabbing their sticks and lacing up their skates to play in an international rivalry with glory and national pride on the line.

Even though hockey isn’t played in the summer, lots of fans would love some hockey to carry them through the long summer days.

And as enquiring as it would be to see how fast Usain Bolt and other track stars would be on skates, we will have to wait until the fall and winter time to get our ice hockey fix.

Though years ago, Olympic ice hockey wasn’t played during the winter. Rather it was a summer game. Even in the Olympics.

During this time, the Winter Olympics were absent, so ice hockey players and figure skaters were asked to compete in the Summer Olympics instead.

When the Olympic Games were cancelled because of World War I, the 1st ice hockey tournament was cancelled right along with the 1st World Championship too. Previously, the Ligue International de Hockey sur Glace in 1908 and now called the International Ice Hockey Federation hosted European championships beginning in 1910, but there was yet to be a world game with the US and Canada.

Both North American teams were officially accepted into the world federation in the 1920 Games which happened between April 23-29.

In 1920, 7 countries, the US, Canada, France, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, France, Sweden, and Switzerland went to Antwerp seeking the 1st ever hockey gold medal. The other two countries in the LIHG, Austria and Germany, did not participate in the Olympics as a result of WWI.

Something similar is done today. During the beginning of the year, a NHL hockey game is played outdoors and it is a hit. The fans come sit outdoors.

Best Hockey Towns in the US

It’s a great time to be a hockey fan in America. Last year saw the total attendance in the NHL increase to more than 25 million. This is an all-time high that included what was closely the biggest crowd to ever watch a live hockey game. So where are the best towns to be a hockey?

Grand Forks, North Dakota (NCAA – University of North Dakota)

The University of North Dakota is one of college hockey’s real powerhouse programs. It has earned over 14 conference championships, made over 19 Frozen Four appearances and earned over six national championships, the 2nd highest championship total after Michigan.

Hanover, New Hampshire (NCAA – Dartmouth Big Green)

This college town is burrowed along the Connecticut River in wonderful central New Hampshire. While the main village’s population is just over 8,500, when the Dartmouth hockey team takes to the ice, there are, on average, more than 2,000 fans in attendance. That is more than a quarter more than the population of the town.

Lewiston, New York (NCAA – Niagara Purple Eagles)

One of many top hockey towns situated in close proximity to our hockey-loving neighbors up north, Lewiston is along the Niagara River in upstate New York, just a little ways from hockey haven, Canada. Though they have only been a varsity-level team since ‘96, the Niagara Purple Eagles hockey team has arose as a force not to be messed with in college hockey, winning their conference 4 times since 2000 and making an appearance at the NCAA tournaments repeatedly over that time.

Houghton, Michigan (NCAA – Michigan Tech Huskies)

For hockey fans who enjoy the winter time, Houghton is the town you want to be in. It averages more than 100 days every year in which the temperature doesn’t even reach freezing. Thanks to the closeness of Lake Superior, the town get more than 150 of snow every year. With that kind of weather, the only thing to do is to welcome the cold, as well as the sport that go with it.