"Player Dead From Blade Slicing Neck"
Posted: Monday, August 09, 2010
by Dr. Carla Goddard
Florida Panthers forward Richard Zednick had his jugular vein slashed by a teammates skate during a Pather/Sabre game, losing one third of his blood supply. The dangers of hockey skates made front page news. The blade slicing his jugular vein which, if it had not been for the doctors on hand, would have left Zednick dead in a matter of minutes. The reality is, that skates pose a dangerous threat to every player on the ice. Many youth leagues now require it's players to wear neck guards to attempt to protect the neck from such injury as Zednick had. Why the NHL doesn't require neck guards after this event is still a mystery. Every sport has its risk of injury, ice hockey is no different. All though it probably is the only sport, with the exception of fencing, that requires a blade be sharpened, angled, and resharpened before every game. There have been relatively few injuries due directly to the skate blade. More often in hockey, the injuries are coming from the sticks or pucks equipment wise. However, whenever the skate blade lifts off the ice surface there is a danger posed.
Zednick is not the first player to be injured by a skate. Back in the 80's we saw a goalie that suffered the same injury as Zednik. More often the injury has been to the face when a player is down and another players skate gashes the face with the blade. One player had over 90 stitches, barely missing his eye, on his face that could have been completely avoided if he had a face shield on. Another player recently had jagged slices around the chin and lip area when a skate slide into him as he went down after a check.
With the blades becoming an integral part of obtaining an edge over the next player, the risks are becoming greater every year from skate blade injuries. It is time for the NHL to step up and mandate safety equipment like neck guards and mandated face shields before the front page headline for NHL reads "Player dead from blade slicing neck".
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