The 10 Worst Hockey Injuries of All Time
The recent and dramatic injuries suffered by Chris Clark and Jamie Heward led us to wonder what might be the 10 worst injuries suffered by NHLers, all time. This was no labor of the prurient or ghastly on our part, but rather a testament to the courage and guts elite hockey players regularly display, and the inherent dangers they face on every shift.
Tales of terror on the ice are legion, and can be culled from virtually every professional league as well as Europe, but we decided to restrict our survey to the NHL's.
Mark Howe suffered one of the worst injuries in hockey history on December 27, 1980. Late in the third period Howe crashed feet-first into the goal cage and basically impaled himself on a metal post at the center of the net. This injury led directly to the contemporary cage's redesign, which no longer features any exposed steel within. Howe was removed from the ice on a stretcher, treated in the hospital for a deep laceration to his left thigh and buttocks. The puncture narrowly missed the base of his spine, but he also could have bled to death.
Trent McCleary's career with Montreal ended prematurely on January 29, 2000, when he was struck in the throat by a slapshot from Philadelphia's Chris Therien while he fell to the ice attempting to block the shot. This recollection from pucksandbooks: "By coincidence I happened to be following this game on a bar TV, and I remember telling my date that night not to look at the television screen the moment this injury happened, knowing that a number of replays were to follow." The injury caused McCleary's throat to immediately collapse, making it difficult to breathe. Several surgeries were required before he could regain his speech. He never played again.
Leave a comment