One of the most shocking moments of recent times in the KHL is the injury of Salavat Yulaev forward Gleb Kuzmin, who, after a collision with Darren Dietz, flew headlong into the boards at full speed. “Compression fracture of the thoracic vertebra. They will operate. We are waiting for a response from the doctors in Moscow. Then we will think about transporting him to Moscow,” Christina, the hockey player’s wife, recently said.
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Salavat striker Kuzmin was taken off on a stretcher after a powerful play by Darren Dietz
Unfortunately, this is not the first and probably will not be the last such injury suffered by hockey players. Today we will recall other injuries of KHL players that looked downright scary.
Denis Sokolov, motorist
When: September 10, 2012 in a game with Traktor
At the beginning of the third period of the match in Yekaterinburg, the most experienced Avto defender lost his balance and fell, and Traktor forward Jan Bulis, jumping over Sokolov, touched his face with his skate. The defender quickly got up and walked alone to the locker room, but at the scene of the collision, shocked spectators saw a huge pool of blood. Among the spectators of the match were the father, brother, wife and children of Sokolov, who was born in Yekaterinburg.
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“I felt almost no pain and did not lose consciousness. I just felt the blood pulsating and flowing. “I spent just over an hour in the hospital,” the hockey player said. The driver’s doctor, Alexander Kotlov, provided first aid and later shared the details: “Denis was lucky that the blow did not fall on the carotid artery, but on its branch. Denis lost more than 400 milliliters of blood in about five minutes. If you do not respond in time to the same injury, the worst can happen.”
Sokolov returned to the ice fairly quickly, after 10 days, and was ready to go on the ice a couple of days after the incident. The defenseman then played two more seasons in Ugra, where he ended his playing career.
Sergey Kalinin, Vanguard
When: March 8, 2015 in the playoff game with Barys
The series between Avangard and Barys was very heated and intense and lasted seven games. Unfortunately, its main moment was not related to the game: in the sixth game, the captain of the “falcons” fell under the force of defender Roman Savchenko, the player’s helmet came off and Kalinin hit his bare head on the ice. The player’s tongue was tied and convulsions began; Anton Kuryanov, who was nearby, quickly tried to help. Medics quickly arrived, provided immediate assistance and carried the forward onto a stretcher.
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Kalinin was treated in neurosurgery for several days, but was soon transferred to a regular ward; however, he was able to return to Omsk only after 10 days. The Hawks players said that for them this became an extra motivation to win the seventh match. However, no one denied that it was an accident and Savchenko made a move of pure strength, even the frantic Raimo Summanen. The final recovery took place in the United States; Kalinin left for New Jersey that offseason.
“Doctors in Kazakhstan and Omsk gave me the right treatment: there were the right medications, I took a break after training and then I was eager to join the national team. I called the coaches and management, they were waiting for me and this also helped me recover faster,” Kalinin said in an interview with “Championship” in 2022.
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Vitaly Sitnikov, Ugra
When: November 29, 2015 in a match with Slovan
Sitnikov’s situation is similar to that of Sokolov, but less serious. Experienced Slovan striker Ladislav Nagy raised his leg too high when falling and touched the Russian striker. Sitnikov went to the bench, the game was stopped: the artery was not affected, the striker did not lose consciousness, but Vitaly was hospitalized and underwent surgery.
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“Yes, it really hit me then. I took off my glove and saw blood. Hurry to the bench, I know how many cases there have been, you have to get to the bench quickly so that they can give us some kind of help and not be left lying on the ice. I was also scared because I didn’t understand how serious this injury was. As they say, life flashed before my eyes, I kept thinking, the game is over,” Sitnikov later said in an interview. The forward has not played professionally since 2019, but last year he played at the regional championship level.
Wojtek Wolski, metallurgist
When: October 13, 2016 in a match with Barys
When Metallurg was on the power play, Wolski ran to the boards to win the puck and was forced to jump: Barys player Vladimir Markelov landed on him and Wolski, with an extra load on his back, flew into the boards at full speed. The player simply lay motionless and a team of medics lifted him onto a stretcher. “I immediately wanted to stand up, but it was as if I was paralyzed. I told myself: don’t be an idiot, stop pretending, but in reality I didn’t feel either my arms or my legs,” the forward later recalled about this situation.
The video rights belong to KHL LLC. You can watch the video on the official KHL website.
“In the hospital I wasn’t entirely sure I could play hockey again. I tried to convince myself I had to keep going,” Wolski later recalled. The player was diagnosed with a spinal cord contusion and a fracture of the fourth and seventh vertebrae, and Wolski later admitted he was lucky he only broke his neck. The player had a long recovery and operations ahead of him, but he was able to return to the ice, play three more seasons and win Olympic bronze with Canada in Pyeongchang.
The story of Wolski’s return to the ice:
Wolski: I cried in the hospital, but I was happy to be alive
Alexander Budkin, metallurgist
When: September 26, 2017 in a match with Ak Bars
In the fall of 2017, Stepan Zakharchuk had earned a reputation as a serial offender: after his techniques, Radek Smolenyakov and Anton Lazarev, who suffered a fracture of the thoracic vertebra, were injured. However, almost the most terrible episode involving Zakharchuk occurred in Magnitogorsk, where an Ak Bars player hit Alexander Budkin in the head at full speed. The Metallurg defender tried to prevent the collision, but did not have time: Zakharchuk deliberately hit himself in the head. Not small (196/95) Budkin could not get up from the ice, and the ice quickly became filled with blood.
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“I can’t give a medical report, but there are very serious injuries. 100 percent of the time there is a serious concussion, and everything else is hidden head injuries. There are even fractures,” Gennady Velichkin was indignant after the injury. Ilya Vorobyov used to say: “Budkin’s face looks like it’s from somewhere else.” Zakharchuk said that he didn’t want to get injured, but he received an eight-match suspension from the league. Budkin returned to the ice two months later, but after that he remained more often in the rotation.
Artyom Penkovsky, “Tractor”
When: October 7, 2018 in a match with Almirante
Unfortunately, this was not the last case of serious injury for Zakharchuk. Shortly after the incident with Budkin, Ak Bars terminated his contract (the media reported a violation of the regime) and the 2018/2019 season began in Vladivostok. The match against Traktor was the first of the season for Zakharchuk, but three minutes before the end, with the score 2:7, the defender flew in to crash Artyom Penkovsky into the boards, when it simply made no sense to do so.
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The Traktor player remained conscious, but the consequences were dire: Penkovsky suffered a broken jaw and an open head wound. Zakharchuk again insisted that he did not want this, but the league did not believe the repeat defender and disqualified him for 15 matches. Penkovsky returned to the ice only at the end of January, and this injury effectively ended his career in the KHL: Artyom spent several more seasons at the VHL level and recently retired from hockey at the age of 29.
Alexey Maklyukov, metallurgist
When: March 30, 2022 in the playoff match with Avangard
All the league’s coaches have been talking about the importance of blocks lately: to win in the playoffs, it is now necessary to make at least three dozen blocks. At the end of March, Metallurg was 12 minutes away from reaching the conference final: in the seventh game, the club led 3-0, but was outnumbered and the opponent eliminated the goalkeeper. Alexey Maklyukov was ready to block Arseniy Gritsyuk’s shot from close range while falling, but the puck, fired at high speed, hit the player right in the head.
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The selfless Maklyukov was unable to get up from the ice and was hospitalized – blood was visible on the ice. It turned out that the puck hit the defender right in the ear and he was later diagnosed with a concussion. A day later, Maklyukov was taken to a general ward and two weeks later he was discharged from the hospital, but Alexey was no longer able to finish that season. However, two years later the defender will win the Gagarin Cup.
