It is when we are «sidelined» that we realize how much we like to play hockey but also that health is priceless because it does not take much to not be able to go about our daily lives in a “normal" manner, either because of illness or in my case because of a rather unusual accidental injury that happened to me last Tuesday which also happened to be my last game of 2014...
We play at the Verdun Auditorium on Tuesdays. What a beautiful amphitheater with its old wooden and wrought iron benches and its steel and wood structure of a bygone era. The ice is not the best in town but we are a good bunch of guys (many from the LFA) and have loads of fun especially since some “bad apples" that sometimes spoiled the atmosphere were not re-invited. In short the game is a little late but it's always fun ...
The game was almost finished, we were in the opponents’ zone, I was standing in front of the net, blocking the goalies view as I usually enjoy doing, when my defenseman lets a good slap-shot go, not a crazy laser, just a slap on net as I have seen hundreds in my life. In fact, I think it had a falling trajectory, so it was no cannonball.
In the crowd in front of the net, I tried to move out of the way and let it go buy while attempting to deflect it if possible but I received it on one of the the fingernails of my right hand (I’m a «righty») I have unusually big hands so my fingers push out on the soft part of my glove so there is maybe 4 mm that «stick out» beyond the padding of my glove (yes they are new, no holes, and are 15 inches) ... so when it happened I let out an Ayoye Tab..… !!!
The sensation reminded me the one felt when one strikes a hammer on a finger, not very pleasant but not the end of the world either ... But when I tried to grab my stick I realized that there was something wrong ... Looking at my hand I found that the blood began to seep through my glove, so I returned to the bench as fast as possible ...
When I removed my glove the skin from the tip of my finger hung by a little piece that had not let go, it was pretty disgusting to say the least, and needless to say it was pissing blood ...
The guy from the Arena was right there(funny coïncidence) and had witnessed the scene, so in no time we were in the infirmary bandaging the mess taking care to plc the loose end as precisely as possible. It's strange but I somewhat surprised at myself; I was keeping "my cool" while the Arena guy was freaking out and almost yielded to panic. So I had to tell him what to take in the first aid kit because he was all confused and whatnot.
Then he says: "If you have blade protectors you can walk to the hospital on the other side of the street!" But it was out of the question that I rush there and wait who knows how many hours in my soaked and smelly hockey equipment!
So I undressed (with the help of the arena guy to take off my skates) and I took a quick shower before putting on my clean clothes, thinking that only 5 more minutes would not change much, and I would feel so much better ...
Then I crossed the street and went to the emergency room where there was hardly anyone, So in no time the doctor re-positioned my fingertip with 15 stitches, including 2-3 through my fingernail to be sure it stayed put ...
Miraculously, a little over an hour after the incident, I was out and «sipping a last one» with François and JF, needless to say I was fucken thirsty, having been reasonable and not chugging one before going to the Hospital ... Kind of lucky in my bad luck I now have a “Frankenstein finger" and I’m just looking forward to when I can play again ...
In fact I’m telling you this story to come to this conclusion,while talking with the guys, we figured it was quite a freak accident, as my gloves were new etc ... And then we thought of some of the guys (whose name I will withhold) who play without a jockstrap ... yes you read that right: no fucken jockstrap !!! So we imagined the horror ...
And then again the guys who play with a half-visor... In short, What I’m saying is that an accident always happens quickly, and by its nature is unpredictable ...So yes, you can die in a car accident even if you fasten your seatbelt, but it is far less likely to happen to you if you buckle-up before leaving … just a thought…