Hockey player's throat cut by teammate's skate

February 11, 2008

Richard Zednik, right winger for the Florida Panthers, is in stable
condition today after sustaining a gruesome neck injury against the
Buffalo Sabres Sunday night. Olli Jokinen, Zednik's teammate, grazed
the side of Zednik's neck while he was falling, immediately resulting
in a 15 minute delay of the contest as Zednik was helped out of the
arena and blood was cleaned off the ice. Surgery late Sunday night left
the 32-year old in stable condition while resting at a Buffalo hospital.

"Blood was flying out of his throat. I was right there. At first I
didn't know it was my skate because I fell down. Then I saw the
replay," Jokinen said after the game. "I've never seen anything like
it."

Shortly after Zednik was taken off the ice, the HSBC Arena public
address announcer informed the crowd that Zednik was in stable
condition at a Buffalo hospital. The nearly 19,000 fans in attendance
stood and applauded. The two teams played out the remaining minutes of
the game, and the Sabres won, 5-3. But some players wondered if that
was the right choice. “We shouldn’t have finished the game. There are
bigger things than that," Jokinen said. "It was terrifying.”