A Scary Skate

You know what? Sometimes real life pops in to help clear the vision that has been clouded up by the joy of love. That's not to say that I don't enjoy looking at life through rose-colored glasses... I do... but sometimes things happen that shake you back to reality and remind you how precious and delicate life really is. For me, this happened a few days ago when I went on the road to broadcast a hockey game in Michigan. As I was setting up my gear to broadcast the game online, I was watching a little bit of the game going on before ours. I then walked out to the lobby to warm up a bit. I then heard loud noise coming from the rink. I thought maybe one of the teams scored a goal. Then sheer panic as I head back toward the rink when out pops a hockey player from the game, an absolute bloody mess. It turns out the young man collided with another player on the ice, and as they fell, the other guy's skate blade inadvertently came across the throat area of this guy and sliced him. Safe to say, he was in sheer panic. The EMT's that were there came and calmed him down and laid him on the floor and he went into shock. Thank the Good Lord that the cut did not include the artery otherwise... well, I'd rather not think about it. So they calm him down about as much as you can calm a guy with his throat cut open and they packed the large wound and were able to stop the bleeding. Once they were able to stabilize him, the ambulance came and off he went to the hospital for emergency surgery. He spent the night in intensive care. Everyone was visibly shaken watching this guy screaming for help. When they were taking him out to the ambulance, the two teams and all the fans gave him a huge ovation. After the game, when usually one team will go congratulate their goaltender and the other team that loses will console theirs and then all head to their respective locker rooms. Not this night. The two teams instead immediately headed to center ice and took a knee and prayed. Yes prayed. Thank the Good Lord above that he is expected to make a full recovery but came within less than an inch of losing his life playing a game he loved. It's scary to realize how delicate life truly is...