Advertisement

Eric Wellwood’s bloody skate is must-see hockey horror show (Photo)

Harrison Mooney

Eric Wellwood of the AHL's Adirondack Phantoms is currently in hospital recovering from surgery after suffering a gruesome skate cut Sunday afternoon versus the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. In the second period of the game, Wellwood fell into the boards, somehow slicing his lower right leg with his left skate.

As of right now, there doesn't appear to be video of the incident. But, lest we fail to understand the gruesomeness of the injury because we didn't see it, Wellwood's teammate, Danny Syvret, tweeted a photo Sunday night of Wellwood's "Curt Schilling skate":

Egad. Wellwood apparently cut an artery in his calf, which would explain the severe blood loss -- Wellwood left a trail of blood all the way to the locker-room door -- as well as the fact that it was a bright rather than dark red.

From the Glens Falls Post Star:

Wellwood coasted from where he fell into the boards in front of the penalty box across the ice to the bench on his own. When he got to the bench, everyone saw the blood. One player said Wellwood's skate filled with blood, calling it scary.

The trainer, Greg Lowden, brought Wellwood off the bench without waiting for a whistle, which was the first indication of the seriousness of the cut.

To make matters worse for poor Wellwood, the situation cost the Phantoms a shorthanded goal. From the Phantoms:

In fact, Jason Akeson had scored a shorthanded goal on Rick DiPietro while that was going on but it would not count due to the emergency situation deemed by trainer Greg Lowden to get Wellwood to the locker-room as quickly as possible even thought the whistle had not yet blown. When the officials saw what was happening, play was immediately considered halted even though Akeson moved in to score.

According to reports, Wellwood was transported to a Bridgeport hospital immediately, where he underwent one surgery to repair the initial damage. There may be another surgery yet to come Monday.

Barring a miracle, it's probably safe to say that Wellwood's out for the season.