Missing teeth, crushing body checks, and line brawls.
The toughness of hockey players is well-documented but a five-year-old from San Antonio might impress even the most hardened player after he was struck in the head with a puck during an AHL game, received three staples in hospital, and still returned to the arena to watch his team win in overtime.
On Sunday, during the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage game against the Texas Stars, James Evans, 5, was hit in the head by an errant puck and rushed to hospital.
The boy’s father, David Evans, told the San Antonio Express his son only had one question for the doctors in the emergency room at San Antonio’s Children’s Hospital.
“He told the doctor, ‘Can you hurry so I can go back to the game?’” David Evans said.
Evans even took a photo of his son smiling in a hospital bed after receiving three staples with his shirt covered in blood
“He said, ‘It’s a hockey shirt, it needs blood on it,’” Evans told the Express.
According San Antonio Express, the father and son made it back to the game to cheer on the Rampage who went on to defeat the Stars 3-2 in overtime.
An early video posted during warm ups showed an enthusiastic James getting a fist bump through the glass from one of the players.
The story of the determined 5-year-old went viral on social media.
“A lot of people love that he’s a really tough kid,” David Evans said.
But with the NHL embroiled in a concussion controversy some questioned why more wasn’t done medically for the young boy.
Speaking to the Washington Post, the boy’s mother Donna Evans said the doctors did not think a CT scan was necessary and said the boy didn’t show any signs of a concussion.
“He didn’t lose consciousness, he didn’t show any signs of nausea — he ate a popsicle and didn’t get nauseated — and he knew where he was, he knew what was going on,” Evans told the Post.
James, who perhaps not surprisingly wants to play hockey, received a standing ovation from his section upon returning and received special mention from the announcers following the game, according to the Post.