Richard Zednik Injury Not Unprecedented

Thomas Vanek scored a power play goal with just under 11 minutes to put his Buffalo Sabres one-goal ahead of the Florida Panthers Sunday night, and it looked like everyone was in for an exciting final ten minutes in the closely contested game. Less than one minute after Vanek's goal however, the word exciting was no longer applicable to the events taking place on the ice. With just 9:56 left in the third period, the Panthers captain Olli Jokinen got tangled up with Clarke MacArthur. As Jokinen fell, one of his skates raised up and caught Richard Zednik's throat, causing it to bleed heavily. Zednik was able to skate to the bench under his own power, where Panthers trainer Dave Zenobi applied pressure to his neck and helped him off the ice.

Zednik arrived at Buffalo General Hospital by ambulance. Sonya Noor, M.D, an attending surgeon that worked on Zednik said the injury left Zedniks carotid artery "hanging by a thread." Noor went on to say that the doctors were able to repair the artery with minimal clamp time and that the morning after "he's awake, he's alert, he's oriented".

The sight of blood gushing from the throat of an NHL player instantly raised memories of Clint Malarchuk, the Buffalo Sabre's goaltender who also had a throat injury in Buffalo. In that game, on March 22, 1989, two players got tangled up while racing towards the goal and went down. One of their skates caught Malarchuk across the throat, and blood immediately started pouring onto the ice.

The injuries were both extremely gruesome, and will burn a lasting image into the minds of anyone who witnessed either of them. However, the severity of the injuries are actually quite different. Malarchuk had his jugular vein sliced open. Zednik had his carotid artery partially severed. Now, you may have heard the old saying "go for the jugular." The fact of the matter is, however, that "going for the carotid" may be a more appropriate phrase. Les Bisson, the Sabre's team physician, says simply of carotid artery injuries that they can "very quickly become fatal." The jugular vein carries blood back from the vein, while the carotid artery carries freshly oxygenated blood directly from the heart to the brain. Both injuries can be fatal, but a laceration of the carotid artery can become fatal much more quickly.

Bisson also said, during a press conference on WGRZ that the team doctors prepare and train to treat a variety of injuries each season, and the fact that Zednik was in stable condition less than 24 hours after the horrific injury is a testament to that training, and the expertease of all the doctors that treated him.