How close can you get?

[drfnr14 0]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajLfmlIdRfk

when i say this on the replay durning the game i was shocked!!! wow to close for comfort!

[Rocket Queen 30 1]

That was totally scary. Thank God it wasn't as severe as it could have been.

[Guest Four]

Now THAT was very close. Burish should be thanking the Hockey Gods for saving him there.

[EuroTwin 240]

That was scary as hell. I'm glad he's okay and that it wasn't as serious as it could have been. What a freakish thing to happen.

[Tman77 40]

Was only half paying attention when I then saw the replay and was like "Oh s***" ( from remembering the last time it happened to Zednik). Thankfully he was ok. He may be an opposing team member, but you don`t want that happening to anyone.

Edited May 18, 2009 by Tman77

[Swayze 81]

"Good reason for a playoff beard"

What kind of f***ing comment is that? Burish almost got his throat cut and that guy's cracking jokes? Ridiculous.

[Konnan511 1,736]

Good thing it was on the bottom of the chin where it could only infect the salival gland. Any lower and we all know what could have happened, but luckily, and I use that term loosely here, it was on the part of the neck where not much damage could have been done.

[Vladiator 116]

Yeah when I saw that replay I was thinking "Man that could have killed him" Hope he's counting his chickens or thanking a higher power. He was very lucky.

[Vincanni 1]

Thankfully he was in a position to be able to recoil some to buffer the blow, also he must have some pretty thick skin on top of that. Either way, very scary incident and luckily he's alright.

[Glubki 17]

He was lucky - that brought back memories of Clint Malarchuk getting his jugular cut in the late 80's...

[hockeysattva 8]

He was lucky - that brought back memories of Clint Malarchuk getting his jugular cut in the late 80's...

From the wiki:

The infamous moment that Malarchuk is perhaps most known for occurred during a game on March 22, 1989, between the visiting St. Louis Blues and Malarchuk's Buffalo Sabres. Steve Tuttle of the Blues and Uwe Krupp of the Sabres collided at the mouth of the goal, and Tuttle's skate caught Malarchuk on the neck, severing his jugular vein.[1][2]

With pools of blood collecting on the ice, Malarchuk somehow left the ice under his own power with the assistance of his team's athletic trainer, Jim Pizzutelli. Many spectators were physically sickened by the sight, with nine fainting and two suffering heart attacks while three teammates vomited on the ice.[3][4] Local television cameras covering the game cut away from the sight of Malarchuk after realizing what had happened.

Malarchuk, meanwhile, had only two thoughts: He was going to die, and he had to do it the right way. "All I wanted to do was get off the ice", said Malarchuk. "My mother was watching the game on TV, and I didn't want her to see me die."[5] Aware that his mother had been watching the game on TV, he had an equipment manager call and tell her he loved her. Then he asked for a priest.[6]

Malarchuk's life was saved by Jim Pizzutelli, the team's athletic trainer and a former army medic who had served in Vietnam. He reached into Malarchuk's neck and pinched off the bleeding, not letting go until doctors arrived to begin suturing the wound. Still, Malarchuk came within minutes of becoming only the second fatality to result from an on-ice injury in NHL history (the first was Bill Masterton). It was estimated that if the skate had hit 1/8 inch (3 mm) higher on Malarchuk's jugular, he would have been dead within 2 minutes. In the dressing room and on his way to the hospital, doctors spent 90 minutes and used over 300 stitches to close the wound.[6][7] It was also said that, had the incident occurred at the other end of the ice, Malarchuk never would have made it and would have died. (The Buffalo Memorial Auditorium had the locker room exits at one the end of the ice instead of the normal locations behind the benches, and he was at that end.)[2]

Malarchuk returned to practice four days later, having spent only one night in the hospital. About a week after that, he was back in goal against the Quebec Nordiques. "Doctors told me to take the rest of the year off, but there was no way", Malarchuk said. "The longer you wait, the harder it's going to be. I play for keeps." Malarchuk came back in time to play in the playoffs but only to lose to Ray Bourque and the Boston Bruins in a 4–1 series.

Malarchuk's performance declined over the next few years, to the point that he left the NHL. After this, he struggled with obsessive-compulsive disorder (as he had since a young age), as well as nightmares and alcoholism,[8] but he eventually returned to hockey, in the International Hockey League. After retiring as a player, Malarchuk continued his hockey career as a coach.

Death

On January 13, 1968, four minutes into a game against the Oakland Seals at the Met Center, Masterton was carrying the puck into the Seals' zone. Shortly after completing a pass to teammate Wayne Connelly, he was checked by Oakland's Larry Cahan and Ron Harris and fell backwards onto the ice head-first. The force of the back of his head hitting the ice caused blood to gush from his mouth and nose. Before Masterton lost consciousness, a teammate who rushed to his aid heard him murmur, "Never again. Never again."[2]

Masterton sustained a massive brain hemorrhage that damaged the pons. The injury was so severe that doctors were unable to perform surgery, and Masterton died two days later without ever regaining consciousness.[3]

His death would result in more intense lobbying for hockey players to wear helmets, which were uncommon in North American professional hockey at that time. Helmets were mandated beginning 1979 for players entering the NHL in that season onward.

Masterton's #19 jersey has never been worn again by any player on the North Stars/Stars franchise, and it was officially retired in 1987, six years before the North Stars left Minnesota. [4]

The Bill Masterton Trophy is named in his honor. The trophy is awarded for dedication, sportsmanship, and perseverance.[5][6]

Bill Masterton attended Miles MacDonell Collegiate in Winnipeg, where he was the male athlete of the year at the school in 1955. In 1968, his family created a scholarship in his honour for MacDonell students.

[Stiffy 0]

Oh man, you had to bring this up. It was super scary and had it been worse none of us would be thinking about games and standings today. Plus there were a lot of little kids at the game yesterday.... oh man.

[betterREDthandead 58]

I didn't even realize how close that came til I saw the replay on ESPN. Never even saw it happen. Really scary stuff. They slo-mo'd it too, which means you get three times as long to watch a skate fly towards someone's jugular vein, which is not good for the nerves.

[Jocke 53]

"Good reason for a playoff beard"

What kind of f***ing comment is that? Burish almost got his throat cut and that guy's cracking jokes? Ridiculous.

Was it really a joke? I think the beard might actually have saved him from a deeper cut.

[ifonlyicouldskate 11]

He was extremely lucky that day and someone somewhere was looking out for him. We are all thankful he is alright.

[SoDakWing 8]

Yeah thank god he's alright.

But what I want to know is why Eager's skate went up there? He was attempting to check Kronner, looks to me like he was in the process of leaving his feet just before Kronner ducked out of the way.

But regardless it's a good thing that Burish is ok.

[#19forPresident! 1]

He's got a guardian angel, that's for certain.

[HadThomasVokounOnFortSt 878]

I shivered when they showed that, I can't take that type of stuff.

[NGKEIB 32]

Eager is even going after his teammates now...

Close call, but he looked none the worse for wear later, even if his neck was a bit red.

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

I gasped so loud when I saw that play. The way his blade actually slid across his juglar was just terrifying. It's amazing (yet horrific) to think that if his skate had been an inch higher, we'd likely be having a very different discussion right now.

[VM1138 1,921]

Was only half paying attention when I then saw the replay and was like "Oh s***" ( from remembering the last time it happened to Zednik). Thankfully he was ok. He may be an opposing team member, but you don`t want that happening to anyone.

Well....maybe Pronger, but that's it.

THat was seriously close, glad he escaped that!

[Tman77 40]

LoL VM, while I`d absolutely love to see Pronger get smashed into the boards, you just don`t want to see someone get their throat slashed and come close to death like that.

Edited May 18, 2009 by Tman77

[C-TownWing 0]

I'll be honest, I'm kind of surprised things like this don't happen more often...

[Rivalred 630]

Neck guards are mandatory in college right?

[jollymania 162]

hd: