Yeah, for anyone newer to Miami hockey, the Will Weber incident we’re referring to happened at Cady Arena in 2010-11. He and a Northern Michigan skater went crashing into the boards and the NMU player’s skate came up and clipped Weber’s neck.
The incident happened less than five feet in front of me, since my seats are Row A in Sec. 12. He got up, grimaced, put his glove to his neck and started projectile spewing blood from his wound. It was the most terrifying thing I’ve seen at a live sporting event, and I’ve seen a lot.
It was actually my birthday, 2010, and while I typically spent most of my time at the rink in my seat, that night I was in a suite for the other two periods, but unfortunately that was the one I was at ice level.
As a true hockey player, Weber wanted to get stitched up and get back into the game, but he was airlifted to UC and amazingly was back in the lineup three weeks later.
The kevlar neck guard discussion was huge then, and Weber wore one when he returned, as did Carter Camper and Curtis McKenzie. But all three dropped them within weeks of the incident due to discomfort, and Weber said at the time he didn’t think it would’ve made a difference.
Granted the technology has advanced 13 years since then, so I have no idea if they’re better now or not, but a lot of very knowledgeable fans I follow say it wouldn’t have mattered in this case.
Not faulting anyone who is making the comparisons about Weber, Malarchuk, Evander Kane, etc., but this was different. Weber and an opposing skater tumbled down. Malarchuk was sprawled out on the ice. Kane was also on the ground.
Johnson was 6-feet-4 and Petgrave’s skate made direct contact with his neck while he was skating upright. In all the thousands of hours I’ve watched hockey, I’ve never seen a player’s skate fly up to head level in a game before.
I’ve heard the term reckless thrown around a lot on the interwebs, and I have to agree. Criminal? Can’t say. Glad I don’t have to make that call.