It was inside the Toronto Maple Leafs dressing room that Ike Werner first allowed himself to consider he was going to survive.
After having his throat cut by chance by a skate blade throughout a Sunday afternoon rec league sport at the NHL group’s follow facility earlier this month, a terrifying expertise turned surreal when the 37-year-old appeared over and noticed Maple Leafs ahead Nick Robertson receiving remedy in an adjoining room.
“That was my visual,” Werner advised The Athletic. “Him being worked on.”
Werner had taken observe of the luxurious vehicles behind the gated part of the car parking zone when he pulled into Ford Performance Centre that afternoon. The Zamboni was resurfacing the ice sooner than standard, too, so he figured the Leafs had skated on Rink 2 earlier than his “Prestige Worldwide” group confronted off towards the “Jagrbombs” in the True North Hockey League.
That truth turned way more important to him when, on his third shift of the sport, he suffered a grotesque cut and was scrambling for assist, solely to discover himself underneath the care of Leafs athletic therapists Paul Ayotte and Neill Davidson.
“They were so good,” Werner stated. “They were so calm and that helped kind of ground me, if you will, because I was spiraling.”
It’s not a spot any rec-leaguer might fairly think about discovering themselves in — even after the October dying of former NHLer Adam Johnson whereas enjoying professionally in England.
That tragedy forged a gentle on the want for extra cut-resistance gear in the sport and has seen gamers in any respect ranges begin sporting it. Werner recalled the matter being mentioned amongst his males’s league group in the fall and stated he even tried, unsuccessfully, to buy a neck guard at the moment.
As certainly one of the older gamers in a fairly aggressive league, he was extra cautious than most when it got here to his gear by sporting wrist guards, cut-resistant socks and, after beforehand sporting a visor (pictured at prime), just lately transferring to a full face protect.
“When Adam Johnson died, you couldn’t buy neck guards,” Werner stated. “I tried. Now, that was a couple months ago, and I probably could have kept on it but didn’t.
“One of the things I said to my wife was, ‘It’s rec league. It’s not as fast. The equipment isn’t at that level. The skates aren’t as sharp. It’s not going to happen in rec league.”’
Except when it did.
NHL participant ballot: Why 78 p.c say there must be no neck-guard mandate ⤵️https://t.co/mIvJtEuyGh
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) February 2, 2024
Werner has no recollection of what occurred. None of his teammates have been positive instantly afterward, both.
In truth, it wasn’t till the convenor of Werner’s league despatched a clip taken from a 360-degree digital camera put in in the area on Tuesday night time that anybody had a clear image of what transpired.
The play appeared as innocent as they arrive. Standing in the slot in entrance of his personal objective, Werner poked at a free puck as an opponent got here on to it and wound up knocking him off stability. As the opponent fell to the ice, his proper skate kicked up and caught Werner underneath the face masks.
Incredibly, the drive of the affect didn’t knock Werner off his ft despite the fact that it left him important bruising to his higher chest and neck space that remained a week after the Feb. 4 incident occurred. It additionally opened a cut that required 12 stitches to shut.
The video clip confirmed the solely side of the sequence Werner recalled clearly: He picked up his dropped stick after the collision and skated underneath his personal energy to the bench.
What additionally stood out in his reminiscence was how little ache he felt in the quick aftermath of the play and the way little blood there appeared to be. He says it felt like a small abrasion or jersey burn. Except when he returned to the bench an official advised him that he wanted to go away the enjoying floor instantly.
Longtime teammate Jack McVeigh accompanied Werner to the dressing room after getting a transient take a look at what his buddy was coping with.
“It was quite shocking that he was alive once you saw the injury,” McVeigh stated. “He took his hand off of his neck and you’re like, ‘Oooooh. Holy f—.’
“I don’t even know what went through my head other than ‘You have to go get that dealt with.’”
Werner didn’t lose his personal cool till catching a glimpse of the gash in a mirror as soon as again in the dressing room. According to McVeigh, he instantly went white.
There was a transient dialogue about calling an ambulance and getting to the area foyer till Werner remembered the Leafs have been in the constructing. He received the consideration of Armando Cavalheiro, who works as a cameraman for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and was standing close by after overlaying follow. Cavalheiro began banging on a again door to the dressing room till it was opened and Werner was let in.
He was instantly tended to by Davidson and Ayotte, the Leafs medical staffers, who utilized stress to the neck space and examined the damage. They finally closed it with Steri Strips and bandaged Werner up after figuring out that he wanted to go to the hospital for additional testing earlier than stitches have been put in.
Just as importantly, they offered reassurance that every part was going to be OK.
“They were so good,” Werner stated. “Asking me some questions: ‘Can you breathe OK?’ ‘Can you swallow OK?’ Like those types of things to just rule out any severe, severe things.
“They’re like ‘You’re lucky to be alive.’”
Under regular circumstances, they may not have been round to assist somebody injured throughout a 4 p.m. rec league sport.
The Leafs usually follow at midday however didn’t skate that day till 2:45 p.m., as a result of the group was returning from the All-Star break and league guidelines dictated that no necessary actions have been scheduled earlier than mid-afternoon.
A father to a 3-month-old, Werner went alone to St. Joseph’s Hospital with solely a fast message despatched to his spouse that he’d been cut and was going to be OK. He was admitted instantly to a hospital mattress and acquired his stitches by 5:15 p.m. — solely an hour after leaving the ice.
Because the skate that grazed him was so sharp, the cut was clear and simply stitched closed. A neighborhood anesthesia was utilized and Werner started bleeding closely whereas medical doctors examined how deep the wound was. He had to throw out the shirt he was sporting in favor of 1 McVeigh dropped off for him at the hospital.
However, it was a good-news scene. A CT Scan confirmed that the skate had cut into muscle however not via it, making surgical procedure pointless.
One of the emergency room medical doctors advised Werner she performs hockey at a excessive degree recreationally and vowed not to return to the ice with out first getting a neck guard of her personal.
“It missed my vocal cords, my esophagus, arteries, veins, everything,” Werner stated. “I’m just lucky. I’m just lucky.”
He didn’t even spend the night time in hospital.
Ike Werner has upgraded to a full face protect since this picture was taken. He couldn’t discover a neck guard, although.
Werner’s brush with dying introduced him involved with 5 completely different highly-trained medical professionals between the time he was cut by the skate and when he ultimately returned residence to a lengthy embrace from his spouse.
Each of them advised him he was fortunate to be strolling out the door.
That’s left him reflecting on all of the what-ifs from a day that can nearly actually keep on with him for the remainder of his life.
For starters, the climate had been unseasonably good on that Sunday, and through a stroll along with his new child, he thought about skipping the hockey sport altogether. What if he selected to keep residence?
What if his group wasn’t quick a defenseman for that sport and he was enjoying his regular place at ahead as a substitute?
What if he’d gotten up and tried to rejoin the play relatively than skating to the bench after being cut? Would his physique have been ready to deal with the continued exertion?
What if the cut was simply a little bit deeper or angled a centimeter or two in one other path?
What if the Leafs have been working on their regular schedule that afternoon and the medical staff wasn’t nonetheless in the constructing to reply his name for assist?
“I thought I was going to die and they said, ‘You’re not going to die. You’re very lucky.’ And they patched me up,” Werner stated. “I credit them with just making sure I was OK. At that point, I wasn’t bleeding that much, but if I had just taken myself to the hospital who knows what would have happened?
“It ended up being a lot of blood.”
He doesn’t take into account himself a spiritual or non secular individual, however he’s actually received household and associates who consider some higher energy was looking for him that day.
It wasn’t straightforward to calm his thoughts lengthy sufficient to get a restful sleep in the quick aftermath of a scenario the place Werner himself notes: “I almost orphaned my kid and my wife was going to be a widower.”
About the final place he anticipated to discover himself when exhibiting up for a Sunday rec league sport was inside the Maple Leafs dressing room.
He’s fortunate he did.
“I’m not a Leaf fan — I’m a Calgary fan — but I’ve just been joking, ‘I might be a Leafs fan now,’” Werner stated. “Not from a team perspective, but a behind-the-scenes perspective.”
(Photos courtesy of Ike Werner)
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