Player suffers severed carotid artery in hockey game

[Arlos]

Richard Zednik of the Panthers, in a game against Buffalo, when a teammate got upended in a hit, and caught him in the neck with a skate blade.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3240651

I dunno if there's too much scarier of an injury possible.



I can't even imagine what must have gone through the mind of the guy who's skate it was that hit him. Fortunately, he's going to be alright, but damn, it had to have been a near thing. Just goes to show that Hockey is by far and away the most dangerous of the big-4 sports to play in.

-Arlos

[Tikker]

the crazy part was that the last time it happened, buffalo was involved too

their goalie (malarchuk i think) got his jugular sliced

he was back at practice 4 days later

[Gaazy]

Crazy shit. Ive seen two things that could rival seein somethin like that in person. One was a person who had hit a tree and died while skiing here a few years back. I skiied up to see if ym ski patrol buddies needed anything. Brains spattered on the tree and everything. The other was a car accident I watched happen and got out to see if everyone was ok. girl had a shard of glass stuck in her throat. She ended up dieing.



Id still have to say football is more dangerous. Hell, back in the day one of the presidents (hmm cant remember right off) wanted to ban the sport because of all the collegiate player deaths. I reckon this was back before there was even an NFL though, so it was a totally different time. Still yet though, I would put all the zillions of head and neck injuries above an injury that has happened twice in the past like 30 years (1989?). Those hockey guys are nuts though. Too bad the sport is so fucking shitty to watch on TV. Goin to the games is a different story, theyre a fuckin blast. But watchin it, is like watchin golf.

[Tikker]

Id still have to say football is more dangerous.

I don't think I'd say it's more dangerous. there's definitely more injuries in football, but I think that has more to do with playing on a less forgiving surface

[leah]

holy crap, scary injury!!

seth green guest starred on grey's anatomy not too long ago and he had an exposed carotid and omg when it all went to shit there was blood EVERYWHERE. he died. it was one of the craziest things i've ever seen (even if it's fake). i can't imagine seeing that in person, and for real!

[Arlos]

The Clint Malarchuk comparisons can stop. Richard Zednik's injury was much more life- threatening.

"Clint actually cut his external jugular vein, which is quite different from your common carotid artery," Dr. Leslie J. Bisson said. "Your common carotid artery, when that's lacerated, it can very quickly become a fatal injury."

The four doctors who treated Zednik used words today such as "profusely," "devastating," "hanging by a thread" and "lucky" to describe the sliced carotid artery injury suffered by Zednik on Sunday.

The physicians who treated the Florida Panthers hockey player met with the media this afternoon. They described a scene that likely would have been fatal if not for a sequence of fortunate events.

Zednik, struck in the throat by the skate of teammate Olli Jokinen, was fortunate the blade cut only the carotid artery, barely missing the internal jugular vein and a web of nerves in the neck.

Still, the blow could have been deadly if:

*Zednik hadn't skated immediately to the bench, a 100-foot journey that left a wide trail of blood. That allowed trainers and doctors to reach him quicker.

*Bisson, the Sabres team doctor, hadn't been positioned next to the bench. He was able to hop out of the stands and meet Zednik near his bench. Bisson immediately put pressure on the gushing artery, slowing the bleeding.

*The artery had been completely severed. It wasn't, allowing Drs. Sonya Noor and Richard Curl to quickly find the injury and reattach it cleanly. If the artery had torn fully, it would have retracted and moved out of place. It was almost all the way severed, and was what was referred to as being "hanging by a thread"

"We all were very lucky last night, not just Richard," Noor said in Buffalo General Hospital.

Supposedly there was also actually a vascular surgeon in the stands just there to watch the game, who immediately ran down and volunteered as soon as he saw the injury, and actually helped stabilize him somewhat in the training room, and rode with him in the ambulance to the hospital. (according to ESPN, anyway)

Oh, and Gaazy, Football probably has more frequent serious injuries, but hockey, given that people are running around with weapons and standing on razor blades (effectively), hockey is much easier for there to be life-threatening injuries, methinks.

-Arlos

[Harrison]

Football probably has more frequent serious injuries

I think we can all safely say that the frequency in which serious injury can occur would definitely decide which is more dangerous lol

[Arlos]

One sport you can blow out knees, break limbs. The other you can get your face caved in with a club or your throat cut. I'll call sport #2 more dangerous.

-Arlos

[10sun]

One sport you can blow out knees, break limbs. The other you can get your face caved in with a club or your throat cut. I'll call sport #2 more dangerous.

-Arlos

Being an English Football fan in the 1980s was more dangerous than any of the sports you have listed so far.

[Tikker]

Football probably has more frequent serious injuries

I think we can all safely say that the frequency in which serious injury can occur would definitely decide which is more dangerous lol

uh no
you're too fucking dumb to understand the difference, so I'll let you just continue to think you're right

it's easier that way

[Gypsiyee]

cheese and rice that's gross

good gracious

[Gaazy]

Yeah, im not going to bother to argue though. Pointless, as are all arguements on this board~ Ill take D, agree to disagree, again.

[Lyion]

One sport you can blow out knees, break limbs. The other you can get your face caved in with a club or your throat cut. I'll call sport #2 more dangerous.

Hockey is dangerous, but I wouldn't say more. The guy with the throat slashed was in bad shape, but that was a freak accident. Likewise, Kevin Everitt of the Bills was paralyzed due to a freak accident. I'd say there are much more violent collisions in the NFL, but there also is the overt 'enforcer' mentality in the NHL and the skate/stick issues.

Hockey and football played by young people by and large are mostly safe and injuries are not the norm.

The problem is the speed, size, and intensity of the pro game raise it to a different level. A guy moving on the ice that fast, or being leveled by a thug can get devastating injuries.

A 300 pound linebacker who runs a 4.5 40 sprinting full speed at a stationary quarterback from the blind side can result in devastating injuries.

I'm not sure it's an either/or question. Both sports are contact sports and have a high level of injruies and danger, but this isn't due to the sports, but what the game has become at the top tier.

[Gaazy]

Chucky Mullins is another example. Paralyzed neck down

[Tikker]

you see a few hockey players get hit from behind to land face/head first into the boards and you get quadraplegics from time to time too

I was actually at a hockey game where that happened to the guy. complete freak injury, cause i'm not sure you could have broken an egg with how hard he ended up hitting the boards, but just happened to compact his neck to sever his spinal cord

[Kramer]

i know that soccer has a really high frequency of injuries, when cleats are flying at your knee, shins, ankles, etc, it can get ugly, and the impact point can go that way with soccer players, considering there are thin shin guards only and no real padding and people and you have cleats involved and high speeds.

anyway, that story is just freakin janky dude, i guess the skates are sharp then, eh? being from the sowf i have only seen probably low quality ice skates that are pretty squared on the bottom.

[Tikker]

yeah, they should be concave on the bottom

when skates are sharpened, you have 2 distinct edges (inside/outside) and should be sharp enough to trim your fingernails with

[Phlegm]

Rodeo is the most dangerous. Everytime there are at least a couple of guys get stomp on the head by the bulls.

[Arlos]

i know that soccer has a really high frequency of injuries,

That's how I blew my knee out, tis true. My leg was extended, someone else did a sliding tackle for the ball. Their outstretched lower leg slid over my foot, completely pinning it to the ground, while their rest of their weight and momentum all impacted the side of my knee, where there was no way for it to move to absorb the impact. Needless to say, the knee gave way completely.

From what I was told later, the crunch of my knee imploding was so loud, people on the sidelines could hear it over all the yelling and shouting of the spectators. I don't remember the actual impact, all I remember is seeing the guy's leg start to slide over my foot, and the next thing I knew, I was flat on my back, and my coach was kneeling over me asking if I was OK. Knee hadn't started hurting yet by then, but I could tell there was definitely something very wrong with it. Then spent 6+ months in an immobilizing brace, etc.


Still, it was in no way a life-threatening injury. Soccer there are a lot of injuries, but they're generally joint problems, broken bones at worst.

-Arlos

[Kramer]

true dat.

in houston, with football, there is typically one tragic accidental high school football death from a collision every 2-4 years.

i remember a friend of mine my freshman year of high school, someone hit him and his spleen ruptured. doh!

i will never forget my freshman year, i was strong guard and pulling to kick out the def. end, i hit the end, turned him, looked to my right as the running back essentially speared me. i was on my back and couldn't move or feel my body for about 2-3 minutes. i grabbed a neck roll after practice and never played without one again.

[Gaazy]

Aw hell, either way, both sports can be dangerous as shit, no ones denying that. I never should have said anything rofl

Those rodeo boys are pretty crazy too. Ive tried ridin bulls too. Theres a little ranch down the way a bit that people get together at every now and then and ride. That shit is not very fuckin easy >< got my ass thrown pretty godamn hard