How Maple Leafs employees helped save a rec-leaguer from a skate lower to the throat: ‘I assumed I used to be going to die’

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 lower by chance by a skate blade throughout a Sunday afternoon rec league recreation on the NHL workforce’s follow facility earlier this month, a terrifying expertise turned surreal when the 37-year-old appeared over and noticed Maple Leafs ahead Nick Robertson receiving remedy in an adjoining room.

“That was my visual,” Werner informed The Athletic. “Him being worked on.”

Werner had taken observe of the luxurious automobiles behind the gated part of the parking zone when he pulled into Ford Performance Centre that afternoon. The Zamboni was resurfacing the ice sooner than typical, too, so he figured the Leafs had skated on Rink 2 earlier than his “Prestige Worldwide” workforce confronted off in opposition to the “Jagrbombs” within the True North Hockey League.

That truth turned rather more important to him when, on his third shift of the sport, he suffered a ugly lower and was scrambling for assist, solely to seek out himself underneath the care of Leafs athletic therapists Paul Ayotte and Neill Davidson.

“They were so good,” Werner stated. “They were so calm and that helped kind of ground me, if you will, because I was spiraling.”

It’s not a spot any rec-leaguer might fairly 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 sporting it. Werner recalled the subject being mentioned amongst his males’s league workforce 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 sporting wrist guards, cut-resistant socks and, after beforehand sporting a visor (pictured at high), just lately transferring to a full face defend.

“When Adam Johnson died, you couldn’t buy neck guards,” Werner stated. “I tried. Now, that was a couple months ago, and I probably could have kept on it but didn’t.

“One of the things I said to my wife was, ‘It’s rec league. It’s not as fast. The equipment isn’t at that level. The skates aren’t as sharp. It’s not going to happen in rec league.”’

Except when it did.

NHL participant ballot: Why 78 p.c 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 positive instantly afterward, both.

In truth, it wasn’t till the convenor of Werner’s league despatched a clip taken from a 360-degree digicam put in within the area on Tuesday night time that anybody had a transparent image of what transpired.

The play appeared as innocent as they arrive. Standing within the slot in entrance of his personal aim, Werner poked at a free puck as an opponent got here on to it and wound up knocking him off steadiness. As the opponent fell to the ice, his proper skate kicked up and caught Werner underneath the face masks.

Incredibly, the drive of the affect didn’t knock Werner off his toes although 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 lower 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 underneath his personal energy to the bench.

What additionally stood out in his reminiscence was how little ache he felt within the rapid aftermath of the play and the way little blood there appeared to be. He says it felt like a small abrasion or jersey burn. Except when he returned to the bench an official informed him that he wanted to depart 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 quite shocking that he was alive once you saw the injury,” McVeigh stated. “He took his hand off of his neck and you’re like, ‘Oooooh. Holy f—.’

“I don’t even know what went through my head other than ‘You have to go get that dealt with.’”

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. According to 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 bought the eye of Armando Cavalheiro, who works as a cameraman for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and was standing close by after overlaying 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 stress to the neck space and examined the harm. 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 had been put in.

Just as importantly, they offered reassurance that the whole lot was going to be OK.

“They were so good,” Werner stated. “Asking me some questions: ‘Can you breathe OK?’ ‘Can you swallow OK?’ Like those types of things to just rule out any severe, severe things.

“They’re like ‘You’re lucky to be alive.’”

Under regular circumstances, they won’t have been round to assist somebody injured throughout a 4 p.m. rec league recreation.

The Leafs usually follow at midday however didn’t skate that day till 2:45 p.m., as a result of the workforce was getting back from the All-Star break and league guidelines dictated that no necessary 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 lower 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.

Because the skate that grazed him was so sharp, the lower 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 sporting in favor of 1 McVeigh dropped off for him on the hospital.

However, it was a good-news scene. A CT Scan confirmed that the skate had lower into muscle however not by way of it, making surgical procedure pointless.

One of the emergency room medical doctors informed 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, everything,” Werner stated. “I’m just lucky. I’m just lucky.”

He didn’t even spend the night time in hospital.

Ike Werner has upgraded to a full face defend since this photograph 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 lower by the skate and when he ultimately returned residence to an extended embrace from his spouse.

Each of them informed 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 nearly actually persist 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 recreation altogether. What if he selected to remain residence?

What if his workforce wasn’t quick a defenseman for that recreation and he was taking part in his regular place at ahead as a substitute?

What if he’d gotten up and tried to rejoin the play slightly than skating to the bench after being lower? Would his physique have been capable of deal with the continued exertion?

What if the lower was just a bit bit deeper or angled a centimeter or two in one other course?

What if the Leafs had been working on their regular schedule that afternoon and the medical employees wasn’t nonetheless within the constructing to reply his name for assist?

“I thought I was going to die and they said, ‘You’re not going to die. You’re very lucky.’ And they patched me up,” Werner stated. “I credit them with just making sure I was OK. At that point, I wasn’t bleeding that much, but if I had just taken myself to the hospital who knows what would have happened?

“It ended up being a lot of blood.”

He doesn’t think about himself a non secular or non secular particular person, however he’s actually bought household and associates 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 rapid aftermath of a scenario the place Werner himself notes: “I almost orphaned my kid and my wife was going to be a widower.”

About the final place he anticipated to seek out himself when exhibiting up for a Sunday rec league recreation was contained in the Maple Leafs dressing room.

He’s fortunate he did.

“I’m not a Leaf fan — I’m a Calgary fan — but I’ve just been joking, ‘I might be a Leafs fan now,’” Werner stated. “Not from a team perspective, but a behind-the-scenes perspective.”

(Photos courtesy of Ike Werner)