An ice hockey star has been left with a broken nose, fractured cheekbone and cracked eye socket after he was smashed in the face with a puck during his first season playing in Scotland.
Dundee Stars player Rory Rawlyk thought he had been left blind after the freak accident at the end of a training session in the city’s ice arena.
Canadian Rawlyk joined the Dundee Stars last August.
He said: “It was a real hard pass from defence and it deflected off my stick and hit me on the face. As soon as it hit me I just went down there was a lot of blood.”
The defence player was taken to Ninewells Hospital by ambulance, and after numerous scans and X-ray was given 13 stitches.
Rawlyk, 30, has had huge support from fans after asking them to “toss some prayers out” for his vision, and saysdoctors seem positive that his eyes will return to normal.
He said: “No one knows exactly why I still can’t see properly whether it’s just the trauma or because there’s so much fluid and blood in there.
“I’m hoping it’ll clear up over time, the doctors seem quite positive.
With it being his first season with the Dundee Stars, Rawlyk was left disappointed last month when he was wasn’t able to play because of an injured shoulder and thought he might be out for the rest of the season.
So he was delighted when he was able to return to the ice after just two weeks, only to have his face shattered in the devastating accident.
He said: “It’s tough. I had a little shoulder injury and was out for two weeks. This was only my second time back on the ice.”
Despite his painful injuries and bitter disappointment at being out for the rest of the season, Rawlyk doesn’t hold any grudges towards his team-mate who hit the puck.
He said: “No one likes seeing ateam-mate get hurt, never mind being the one involved in it, so he had a pretty rough day.
“He kept thinking about it and saying he hoped everything would work out. I know if I was on the other end I’d feel pretty bad. But no one was to blame.”
Rawlyk has been a big name in ice hockey for almost 15 years.
After being spotted at the 2001 New York Rangers training camp, he played in the Western Hockey League in defence for the Vancouver Giants and Red Deer Rebels.
He moved up the ladder in 2003, when he obtained his first professional contract with the Charlotte Checkers, and has since played around Canada and Europe.