A bloody trail twisted from one end of the rink to the visiting bench in the Buffalo Sabers’ HSBC Arena on Sunday night. But this macabre remnant was not nearly as disturbing as the sight of a dazed Richard Zednik leaning heavily on a teammate and clutching at his neck, which had just been cut open by the errant skate of another teammate, Ollie Jokinen. For the fans present, and even for those who watched in horror at the slow-motion replays that followed, it was one of the most terrifying sports accidents in recent memory. But for a recent Georgetown grad, Jokinen’s skate-blade may have sliced a little too close to home.
Luke Holden (MSB `07) was the playoff MVP of last year’s Atlantic Coast Conference Hockey League Champion Georgetown men’s hockey team. While the Zednik injury was just a gruesome highlight for most of us, it was more like a vivid flashback for Holden. In the 2005 ACCHL semifinals against Duke, Holden dove to the ice in a scrum in front of the Duke net, looking to score off of a rebound. His teammate, current captain Conor Hickton (SFS `08), also dove for the puck, but was turned around by a Duke defender. Hickton’s skate blade cut Holden right between chest protector and facemask.
“I felt a prickly feeling in my neck,” Holden said. “My initial reaction was to grab the area, and my hand immediately turned red with blood.”
Despite the blood, Holden was not immediately worried because he felt no pain. But when he looked at his close friend and teammate John Stebbins (COL `07), he became concerned.
“John’s face turned bleach white as he tried to form words to tell me what to do,” Holden said. “I think it scared him, and that scared me. I skated off the ice and found some mothers there willing to take me to the hospital.”
Luckily for Holden, the injury was not very serious—a little bit of Novocain and eight stitches were all it took to get him up and running again. But the proximity to disaster was alarming. A quarter inch deeper was his trachea, and just half an inch to the right was the carotid artery. Zednik’s carotid artery was severed on Sunday, and he required immediate, life-saving surgery.
Amazingly, neither Hickton nor Stebbins felt that more needed to be done to protect players’ necks (the only part of a hockey player’s body that is exposed), citing the rarity of that type of injury and the clumsiness of neck-guards. In fact, despite the close call, both Holden and Hickton look at the dangers of the sport with a sort of fondness.
“Hockey is definitely a dangerous sport,” Hickton said. “But the speed and toughness are just part of why it’s so exciting to watch and play.”
“Those were great times,” Holden mused. “Injuries like Zednik’s and mine are just part of a great game.”
As for hard feelings between the two, there are none. But Holden is still awaiting a formal apology.
“Now that I think about it, Conor never even said sorry,” Holden joked. “Some friend.”
