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 unintentionally by a skate blade throughout a Sunday afternoon rec league sport on the NHL staff’s observe facility earlier this month, a terrifying expertise turned surreal when the 37-year-old regarded over and noticed Maple Leafs ahead Nick Robertson receiving remedy in an adjoining room.
“That was my visible,” Werner advised The Athletic. “Him being labored on.”
Werner had taken word of the luxurious 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 truth grew to become rather more important 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 have been so good,” Werner stated. “They have been so calm and that helped form of floor me, if you’ll, as a result of I used to be spiraling.”
It’s not a spot any rec-leaguer might moderately think about discovering themselves in — even after the October dying of former NHLer Adam Johnson whereas enjoying professionally in England.
That tragedy forged a lightweight 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), just 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 in all probability might 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 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 within the enviornment on Tuesday evening that anybody had a transparent image of what transpired.
The play regarded as innocent as they arrive. Standing within the slot in entrance of his personal objective, 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 power of the influence didn’t knock Werner off his ft regardless that it left him important 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 side 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 instant 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 depart the enjoying floor instantly.
Longtime teammate Jack McVeigh accompanied Werner to the dressing room after getting a short take 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 by way of my head apart from ‘It’s a must 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 short dialogue about calling an ambulance and attending to the sector foyer till Werner remembered the Leafs have been within the constructing. He received the eye of Armando Cavalheiro, who works as a cameraman for Maple Leaf Sports activities and Leisure and was standing close by after protecting observe. 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 in the end 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.
Simply as importantly, they supplied reassurance that every part was going to be OK.
“They have been so good,” Werner stated. “Asking me some questions: ‘Are you able to breathe OK?’ ‘Are you able to swallow OK?’ Like these sorts of issues to only rule out any extreme, extreme issues.
“They’re like ‘You’re fortunate to be alive.’”
Beneath regular circumstances, they may not have been round to assist somebody injured throughout a 4 p.m. rec league sport.
The Leafs usually observe 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 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 minimize 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.
As a result of the skate that grazed him was so sharp, the minimize 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 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 by way of it, making surgical procedure pointless.
One of many emergency room medical doctors 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, every part,” 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 photograph was taken. He couldn’t discover a neck guard, although.
Werner’s brush with dying introduced him in touch with 5 totally different highly-trained medical professionals between the time he was minimize by the skate and when he ultimately returned house to an extended 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 may virtually 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 considered skipping the hockey sport altogether. What if he selected to remain house?
What if his staff 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 quite than skating to the bench after being minimize? Would his physique have been in a position to deal with the continued exertion?
What if the minimize was just a bit bit deeper or angled a centimeter or two in one other course?
What if the Leafs have 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 believed I used to be going to die and so they 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 lots of blood.”
He doesn’t contemplate himself a non secular or non secular particular person, however he’s actually received household and pals who imagine some higher energy was looking for him that day.
It wasn’t straightforward to calm his thoughts lengthy sufficient to get a restful sleep within the instant aftermath of a state of affairs the place Werner himself notes: “I virtually 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 is likely to be a Leafs fan now,’” Werner stated. “Not from a staff perspective, however a behind-the-scenes perspective.”
(Photographs courtesy of Ike Werner)
