A Vancouver hockey team could have felt the sting of defeat at a U.S. hockey tournament recently, but they returned home champions.
The Vancouver Thunderbirds U18 A2 hockey team was in Phoenix for the tournament when number nine, Luke Susi, was stung twice on Monday morning by an adult bark scorpion.
The scorpion, slightly bigger than a thumbnail, had crawled into Susi’s hockey bag, which was drying on the patio of his room before the semi-final game.
“I was wearing my gear like you know 10 minutes prior to the game when the coach is talking,” Susi told Global News.
“We’re all leaving that room to go to the rink to warm up. I just felt like something like on my hip there, like I don’t know, I thought maybe like a piece of like equipment or like in the gear like pinching me. I swept inside and saw a scorpion like fly out and it pinched my fingers.”
Susi said his hand and hip are still numb.
“I just hoped it wasn’t poisonous,” he added, as one of the players killed it with his skate.
Get daily National news
One of the coaches took a photo of the scorpion and looked it up online, determining that it was one of the most venomous scorpions in North America and that’s when they rushed to the hospital.
“It wasn’t too bad,” Susi said. “I got pretty lucky and since I’m like a little bigger, it didn’t affect me as much; it’s more just toddlers and elders.”
Susi missed the semifinals but did make it to the final.
“We won in the shootout,” he said and he ended up scoring the winning goal.
Dr. Graham Wong, who has a son on the team and also stepped in to provide medical support, was the one who rushed Susi to the hospital, where they pumped him full of Tylenol.
“The medical team at the hospital was fantastic,” Wong said. “They didn’t think he needed the antivenom and they decided to observe them for about four hours, but after that, they said that Luke was clear to play for the finals and scored the shootout winner. So it’s a Cinderella story.”
Wong said Susi was in quite a bit of pain.
“He’s a tough kid,” he said.
“They gave him some painkillers just to take the edge off the pain and clearly it worked because he was able to score in spectacular fashion in the shootout,” Wong added.
They are also thankful Susi didn’t need the antivenom, as it cost U.S.$80,000.
Comments