Adam Burish’s Close Call

When it comes to hockey injuries, it’s hard to think of anything more gruesome than seeing a player get cut with a skate blade. In 1989, the hockey world held its breath when Clint Malarchuk of the Buffalo Sabres nearly lost his life. Just one season ago, it was Richard Zednik of the Florida Panthers whose life was on the line.↵
↵On Sunday during a 5-2 Detroit win over Chicago in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals , everyone held their breath as winger Adam Burish had his neck grazed by the skate of teammate Ben Eager. While Burish was able to continue to play with what looked like a nasty scar, it’s easy to see how this incident could have had a more tragic ending:↵

↵Here’s what Burish told the AP after the game:↵↵⇥“I don’t know how my head was still connected there,” Burish said. “I saw his skate. It was like he did a figure skating move. He lifted his skate up and I just watched it go over my neck.”↵↵Whew. You’d figure that after a close call like this one that more NHL players might choose to wear a neck guard. But knowing what I know about the culture of the game, I don’t think there’s any way it could possibly catch on.↵