College Hockey Player Suffers Serious Skate Blade Cut Injury

The following, is from a college player who has taken the time to write about his skate blade cut  injury in order to show you just how serious  and dangerous skate lacerations can be.

My name is Stephen Servideo and I currently am finishing up my junior year and playing hockey at Connecticut College in New London, CT. Last season in December I was seriously injured in a game after being cut in the back of my left knee with a skate after checking someone against the boards by the bench. After being hit, the opposing players' legs were just about parallel to the ice as the hit lifted him over the boards which were only about waste high. His skate kicked forward after I hit him and severed the popliteal artery, the gastrocnemius and popliteus muscles and several sensory nerves and veins in my leg.

I was lucky that two of my teammates fathers' were doctors and immediately came over, cut all of my bottom equipment off and wrapped my leg in a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. It was a very serious injury as I lost about 1/3 of my blood and had to have surgery immediately after being taken to the emergency room to repair everything in my leg. I underwent serious rehab for many months leading up to this years season to get things back to normal. Even today I still feel the injury as it is in such an crucial spot at the back of the knee and was so severe. There is still a lot of scar tissue left from the injury making it tough to bend, lift and exercise but I have progressed a lot since the injury. Being able to play this year was a major accomplishment for myself as many people doubted that I would ever be able to play in another game again.

I have made extraordinary progress on and off the ice as far as strengthening my leg and getting things up to par so that I can participate in everything I was able to before the injury occurred. Since the skate severed many sensory nerves in my leg, I do not have any feeling from the knee down in my left leg. It is something that I have gotten use to since the injury and I guess if it was to cut any nerves it is better to cut sensory which controls touch, versus motor which controls movement. It is crazy to think that a hit that I have made so many times throughout my hockey career could have resulted in this injury.

I have been beginning to notice more and more injuries involving skate blade lacerations occurring in all different levels of hockey. These skate lacerations are extremely dangerous and I think it is great that you have developed such products to help protect players from being seriously injured. These lacerations are not accidents and are becoming one of the most dangerous injuries in sports. By educating people on my injury I would hope that they realize the dangers of skate lacerations and that they will use companies such as yours (Hogan Hockey) to protect vulnerable areas on the body that are not covered by equipment.


Not many people think these injuries can happen to them but after going through such a serious injury, it is definitely not a risk anyone should take. These injuries are so serious that they can be fatal and it is not worth taking the risk when products such as yours exist. I have attached an image of the laceration which required 15 sutures across the back of my knee.  To view: see Skate blade lacerations page

Steve Servideo 
 UPDATE
**Introducing our second generation ACHILLES® cut-resistant gear. For information please contact Wingman Sports 1-289-231-1021 / 1-905-716-7227 or email: wingmansports@rogers.com

The XH Series Achilles® Skate Sock, Hybrid Sock(footles), Wrist Guards, Goalie/Player Underwear, and Referee Shin Tights are being worn by hockey players from the grass roots level on up to the Pro's. Providing the added benefits of cut-resistant  cut protection and peace of mind .

Hogan Hockey has been providing players with cut-resistant protection options since 2010.

 All Hogan Hockey ACHILLES® products are cut-resistant and not cut-proof, they are intended to be worn for hockey only.


                                           Play Smart....Protect yourself from CUTS!!

 For secure online purchasing or more info,  visit (hoganhockey.com)


EMAIL: info@hoganhockey.com

            
EMAIL: wingmansports@rogers.com