More comments on Zednik
In the chaos that follows an event like Richard Zednik's injury, you don't always have time or space to get every comment from every person in stories. Here's some more quotes from both sides Sunday night in HSBC Arena:
Buffalo defenseman Jaroslav Spacek, who was next to Clarke MacArthur in the corner with Zednik and Olli Jokinen: "Zednik was on my stick but the other guy's foot flew up. I left him and I didn't know anything happen until the whistle blew. I saw the puck go the other way and I started to skate away. I turned and I saw lots of blood coming from him and I was like, "Oh my god."
MacArthur: "You see that trail of blood and you're like, "Oh man, what the heck happened?"
Sabres equipment manager Rip Simonick, who was on the bench when Clint Malarchuk suffered a similar injury at the Aud in 1989: "Clint saved his life when he pinched his neck. You saw Zednik doing the same thing: Those guys know when they're really hurt. The adrenalin kicks in and they do things they need to do."
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff: "I watched him as he went by [the bench] and I knew it wasn't good. First and foremost, my only thoughts after it was that i was praying he was going to be OK.
Ruff, on the decision to finish the game: "I can fully understand if it wasn't [finished]. I can fully understand if they wanted to cancel the whole game. From that point on, it wasn't about the game anymore. I told the players we'll get through it. Our thoughts should be the player that just went by the bench. That was my only thought."
Sabres center Paul Gaustad: "Scariest thing I've ever seen on the ice. I'm just speechless, horrified. I'm just glad everyone reacted so quickly. ... I saw him get up, and he had his hand over his throat and the blood was coming out. Right away everybody was screaming for doctors and trainers. ... It must have been even harder for them to play. He's not on our team. We don't know him and they do. They play with him every night. I couldn't even imagine if it was one of our players."
Panthers forward Olli Jokinen, whose skate caused the injury: "I think everybody was in shock. ... I can honestly say my mind was not on the hockey game in the last nine minutes. If it would have been my call, I would have gone to the hospital with him. There's a lot bigger things than hockey."
Panthers defenseman Steve Montador: "He was obviously standing but he didn't look as focused as you or I would. ... That's a pretty brave guy just to realize what's going on."
---Mike Harrington
