The NHL is full of injuries, and even some fatalities, which makes hockey famous for being one of the most dangerous sports ever. This holds true for any league: whether it be NHL, college, or even high school hockey. Fights break out, pucks go flying, and jugular veins get severed.
Wait, what?
On March 22, 1989, a fatality occurred during a hockey game between the Buffalo Sabres and the St. Louis Blues. Clint Malarchuk, the goaltender for the Sabres, was reported as the third fatality in the history of the NHL. In a tumbling mix up of players, a St. Louis skate flung out of control...slitting Malarchuk's throat. Blood shot all over the ice, and the fans were shaken to the bone. Even the announcers had a terrified shake in their voices. The team's athletic trainer, a retired Vietnam war medic, rushed onto the ice, putting his fingers in Malarchuk's throat and held the wound closed, refusing to let go until doctors arrived to stitch it up. Malarchuk's wish was to "get off the ice...My mother was watching the game on TV, and I didn't want her to see me die." Malarchuk was, luckily, saved by doctors who rushed to the scene. Due to the fact that he survived, Malarchuk's injury was not considered a fatality
Clint Malarchuk Story
by: Ray Connors