It was contained in the Toronto Maple Leafs dressing room that Ike Werner first allowed himself to imagine he was going to outlive.
After having his throat minimize by chance by a skate blade throughout a Sunday afternoon rec league sport on the NHL staff’s follow facility earlier this month, a terrifying expertise turned surreal when the 37-year-old seemed over and noticed Maple Leafs ahead Nick Robertson receiving therapy in an adjoining room.
“That was my visible,” Werner advised The Athletic. “Him being labored on.”
Werner had taken word of the posh automobiles behind the gated part of the parking zone when he pulled into Ford Efficiency Centre that afternoon. The Zamboni was resurfacing the ice sooner than ordinary, too, so he figured the Leafs had skated on Rink 2 earlier than his “Status Worldwide” staff confronted off in opposition to the “Jagrbombs” within the True North Hockey League.
That reality grew to become way more vital to him when, on his third shift of the sport, he suffered a grotesque minimize and was scrambling for assist, solely to seek out himself below the care of Leafs athletic therapists Paul Ayotte and Neill Davidson.
“They had been so good,” Werner stated. “They had been so calm and that helped sort of floor me, if you’ll, as a result of I used to be spiraling.”
It’s not a spot any rec-leaguer may moderately think about discovering themselves in — even after the October demise of former NHLer Adam Johnson whereas taking part in professionally in England.
That tragedy forged a light-weight on the necessity for extra cut-resistance tools within the sport and has seen gamers in any respect ranges begin carrying it. Werner recalled the subject being mentioned amongst his males’s league staff within the fall and stated he even tried, unsuccessfully, to buy a neck guard at the moment.
As one of many older gamers in a fairly aggressive league, he was extra cautious than most when it got here to his gear by carrying wrist guards, cut-resistant socks and, after beforehand carrying a visor (pictured at high), lately shifting to a full face protect.
“When Adam Johnson died, you couldn’t purchase neck guards,” Werner stated. “I attempted. Now, that was a pair months in the past, and I most likely may have saved on it however didn’t.
“One of many issues I stated to my spouse was, ‘It’s rec league. It’s not as quick. The tools isn’t at that degree. The skates aren’t as sharp. It’s not going to occur in rec league.”’
Besides when it did.
NHL participant ballot: Why 78 % 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 had been certain instantly afterward, both.
In reality, it wasn’t till the convenor of Werner’s league despatched a clip taken from a 360-degree digicam put in within the enviornment on Tuesday evening that anybody had a transparent image of what transpired.
The play seemed as innocent as they arrive. Standing within the slot in entrance of his personal aim, Werner poked at a unfastened puck as an opponent got here on to it and wound up knocking him off stability. Because the opponent fell to the ice, his proper skate kicked up and caught Werner below the face masks.
Extremely, the drive of the affect didn’t knock Werner off his ft although it left him vital bruising to his higher chest and neck space that remained per week after the Feb. 4 incident occurred. It additionally opened a minimize that required 12 stitches to shut.
The video clip confirmed the one facet of the sequence Werner recalled clearly: He picked up his dropped stick after the collision and skated below his personal energy to the bench.
What additionally stood out in his reminiscence was how little ache he felt within the speedy aftermath of the play and the way little blood there appeared to be. He says it felt like a small abrasion or jersey burn. Besides when he returned to the bench an official advised him that he wanted to go away the taking part in floor instantly.
Longtime teammate Jack McVeigh accompanied Werner to the dressing room after getting a quick have a look at what his buddy was coping with.
“It was fairly stunning that he was alive when you noticed the damage,” McVeigh stated. “He took his hand off of his neck and also you’re like, ‘Oooooh. Holy f—.’
“I don’t even know what went via my head apart from ‘It’s important to go get that handled.’”
Werner didn’t lose his personal cool till catching a glimpse of the gash in a mirror as soon as again within the dressing room. Based on McVeigh, he instantly went white.
There was a quick dialogue about calling an ambulance and attending to the sector foyer till Werner remembered the Leafs had been within the constructing. He received the eye of cameraman Armando Cavalheiro, who works as a cameraman for Maple Leaf Sports activities and Leisure and was standing close by after masking 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 strain to the neck space and examined the damage. They finally closed it with Steri Strips and bandaged Warner up after figuring out that he wanted to go to the hospital for additional testing earlier than stitches had been put in.
Simply as importantly, they supplied reassurance that the whole lot was going to be OK.
“They had been so good,” Werner stated. “Asking me some questions: ‘Are you able to breathe OK?’ ‘Are you able to swallow OK?’ Like these varieties of issues to only rule out any extreme, extreme issues.
“They’re like ‘You’re fortunate to be alive.’”
Below regular circumstances, they may not have been round to assist somebody injured throughout a 4 p.m. rec league sport.
The Leafs sometimes follow at midday however didn’t skate that day till 2:45 p.m., as a result of the staff was getting back from the All-Star break and league guidelines dictated that no obligatory actions had 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 minimize and was going to be OK. He was admitted instantly to a hospital mattress and obtained his stitches by 5:15 p.m. — solely an hour after leaving the ice.
As a result of the skate that grazed him was so sharp, the minimize was clear and simply stitched closed. An area anesthesia was utilized and Werner started bleeding closely whereas docs examined how deep the wound was. He needed to throw out the shirt he was carrying in favor of 1 McVeigh dropped off for him on the hospital.
Nevertheless, it was a good-news scene. A CT Scan confirmed that the skate had minimize into muscle however not via it, making surgical procedure pointless.
One of many emergency room docs advised Werner she performs hockey at a excessive degree recreationally and vowed to not return to the ice with out first getting a neck guard of her personal.
“It missed my vocal cords, my esophagus, arteries, veins, the whole lot,” Werner stated. “I’m simply fortunate. I’m simply fortunate.”
He didn’t even spend the evening 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 demise introduced him involved with 5 completely different highly-trained medical professionals between the time he was minimize by the skate and when he ultimately returned residence to a protracted embrace from his spouse.
Every of them advised him he was fortunate to be strolling out the door.
That’s left him reflecting on the entire 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 together with his new child, he considered skipping the hockey sport altogether. What if he selected to remain residence?
What if his staff wasn’t brief a defenseman for that sport and he was taking part in his regular place at ahead as an alternative?
What if he’d gotten up and tried to rejoin the play relatively than skating to the bench after being minimize? Would his physique have been capable of deal with the continued exertion?
What if the minimize was just a bit bit deeper or angled a centimeter or two in one other route?
What if the Leafs had been working on their regular schedule that afternoon and the medical workers wasn’t nonetheless within the constructing to reply his name for assist?
“I assumed I used to be going to die they usually stated, ‘You’re not going to die. You’re very fortunate.’ And so they patched me up,” Werner stated. “I credit score them with simply ensuring I used to be OK. At that time, I wasn’t bleeding that a lot, but when I had simply taken myself to the hospital who is aware of what would have occurred?
“It ended up being a number of blood.”
He doesn’t think about himself a non secular or religious individual, however he’s actually received household and mates who imagine some better energy was looking for him that day.
It wasn’t simple to calm his thoughts lengthy sufficient to get a restful sleep within the speedy aftermath of a state of affairs the place Werner himself notes: “I nearly orphaned my child and my spouse was going to be a widower.”
Concerning the final place he anticipated to seek out himself when exhibiting up for a Sunday rec league sport was contained in the Maple Leafs dressing room.
He’s fortunate he did.
“I’m not a Leaf fan — I’m a Calgary fan — however I’ve simply been joking, ‘I may be a Leafs fan now,’” Werner stated. “Not from a staff perspective, however a behind-the-scenes perspective.”
(Images courtesy of Ike Werner)