Today, while watching the Kozari incident unfold, I felt like I was probably watching one of the scariest moments I've ever seen live. (I don't mean "live" as in, in-person; but rather, just watching the game as it happens as opposed to highlights.) I wasn't sure if I was over-reacting to it, so it made me think of the other scary moments I've seen unfold.
Stamkos breaks his leg -- This one was obviously bad, but I don't think anyone realized just how bad until they showed the replay and you saw Stamkos's leg bend around the post. At that point you had to question how much this would impact the rest of his career. Pretty sure this was Remembrance Day of 2013.
Yzerman takes a puck in the eye -- The scary thing about this one was that, if you followed Yzerman, you'd seen him stone-faced in the midst of some pretty crazy pain, but here, he panicked on the ice. You could tell something was very wrong, and then came the blood. The pictures of his eye after the game are some of the more horrific injury pictures I've seen. I thought his career was over.
Bertuzzi/Moore -- This is the scariest one for me. I saw it by sheer coincidence. I was just flipping through channels as a teenager and happened to stop on the game for a couple of minutes. I don't remember if I stopped because I was aware of the tension between the two teams or if I just happened to stop and watch. Wasn't planning to watch the whole game or anything, just check in for a minute, and then boom, the NHL as we know it changes.
I also seem to remember as a very young kid seeing Chris Pronger take a puck in the chest and collapse vs. The Red Wings? That memory is pretty vague though, honestly. But I remember wondering how, if this was a thing that could happen, why it didn't happen more.
Stamkos breaks his leg -- This one was obviously bad, but I don't think anyone realized just how bad until they showed the replay and you saw Stamkos's leg bend around the post. At that point you had to question how much this would impact the rest of his career. Pretty sure this was Remembrance Day of 2013.
Yzerman takes a puck in the eye -- The scary thing about this one was that, if you followed Yzerman, you'd seen him stone-faced in the midst of some pretty crazy pain, but here, he panicked on the ice. You could tell something was very wrong, and then came the blood. The pictures of his eye after the game are some of the more horrific injury pictures I've seen. I thought his career was over.
Bertuzzi/Moore -- This is the scariest one for me. I saw it by sheer coincidence. I was just flipping through channels as a teenager and happened to stop on the game for a couple of minutes. I don't remember if I stopped because I was aware of the tension between the two teams or if I just happened to stop and watch. Wasn't planning to watch the whole game or anything, just check in for a minute, and then boom, the NHL as we know it changes.
I also seem to remember as a very young kid seeing Chris Pronger take a puck in the chest and collapse vs. The Red Wings? That memory is pretty vague though, honestly. But I remember wondering how, if this was a thing that could happen, why it didn't happen more.
