A linesman with the British Columbia Hockey League is recovering after being injured during a Victoria Grizzlies game at The Q Centre over the weekend.
With eight minutes to go in the second period of Sunday’s game which saw the Grizzlies take on the Salmon Arm Silverbacks, linesman Ryan White tripped and fell backwards, when a player accidentally skated over him, cutting White’s left wrist.
Short delay as the linemen has left the ice after falling down at the face off.
— Victoria Grizzlies (@BCHLGrizzlies) October 29, 2017
Grizzlies president Lance Black and an athletics trainer sprang into action, wrapping a belt just below the cut to help stop the bleeding.
“It was terrible. I’ve been around hockey for 50 years, that’s one of the worst I’ve seen. It was a deep cut,” said Black, noting despite the severity of the cut, White was surprisingly cognizant.
“He was pretty jovial about the whole incident. It’s a great sport but anything can happen at any given time … [Referees and linesman] are subjected to a lot of things that hockey players are, yet they don’t have as much protective equipment on. It’s a tough job.”
An ambulance later arrived and transported White to hospital where he was stitched up. He is expected to be out for seven to eight weeks.
