Slashed Skater Recounts Life-Saving Dash to Bench

Florida Panthers forward Richard Zednik "didn’t feel anything" after a teammate's skate severed his carotid artery last week, but the gushing blood told him he "had to get to the bench." There was "so much blood. I was like, ‘Whoa.' I knew I was in trouble," Zednik told the Buffalo News after he was released from the hospital five days after life-saving surgery.

Jessica Zedik, busy with her sick daughter in Florida, found out about her husband's injury from a Panthers teammate. "All I heard was, ‘Your husband had a really bad accident. His throat was slashed.’ They said ‘major artery,’ and I didn’t think he was going to make it," she said. "I was panicking and screaming and crying." Zednik said he remembers everything clearly, especially the Buffalo medical staff. "I was lucky. They saved my life," he said. (More NHL stories.)