Writer Paul Gallico called hockey “a fast contact game in which men strap knives to their feet and wield clubs.” Is it any wonder that people armed in this way injure each other?
1. Head on ice
On January 13, 1968, Minnesota North Stars forward Bill Masterton, in a match against the Oakland Steels, was unable to escape the “box” in which opposing defenders Larry Kahan and Ron Harris took him. Someone else’s stick blocked his skate, and Bill fell onto his back, hitting the back of his head on the ice (he wasn’t wearing a helmet). After 30 hours, Masterton was taken off the ventilator.
The fatal fact was that Masterton also suffered a concussion at the previous game, but did not take sick leave. “If the brain has not yet fully recovered from the previous injury, a new blow can cause instant swelling and death. That’s what happened here,” stated neurosurgeon Charles Tator.
2. Skate on the neck
By March 22, 1989, Clint Malarchuk had been defending goal for the Buffalo Sabers for only 16 days; St. Louis Blues right winger Steve Turtle hit him in the neck with his skate during the collision. A cut vein, a 15 cm wound, an instant pool of blood on the ice — Malarchuk needed 300 stitches. That same season he returned to the ice, but never reached the same level.
Today, neck protection is mandatory for goalkeepers and field players under 18 years of age. Alas, the captain of the Novokuznetsk Metallurg junior team, Alexander Orekhov (16 years old), who died several years ago, ignored this rule — the puck hit him in the neck, causing him to lose consciousness and, falling, injuring his spine.
3. Puck in the eye
On March 5, 2013, in the New York Rangers game against the Philadelphia Flyers, after a hit from Kimmo Timonen, the puck hit the eye of Rangers defenseman Marc Staal, who was playing without a visor. It took two months to restore my vision. Starting next season, the use of visors in the NHL became mandatory.
4. Elbow to the jaw
On April 14, 1999, future 2002 Olympic silver medalist Jeremy Roenick broke his jaw and lost eight teeth in a collision with Derian Hatcher. On February 12, 2004, his jaw was damaged again: a direct hit from a puck sent by our Boris Mironov, fractures in 19 places.
Wearing a helmet with a full-face mask is mandatory only for hockey players under 18 years of age. Players 18–20 years old can replace the mask with a visor, but in this case they must also use a mouth guard.
5. Hockey stick to the groin
On October 8, Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings was hit between the legs with a stick and (as it turned out later) suffered a severe testicular injury. A patient man, Lidstrom went home after the game, went to training the next day, and only a day later went to the hospital, where he was immediately sent to the operating table in horror. Wearing a shell is still not a mandatory protective measure.