GRAPHIC WARNING: The photos in this article are graphic and may be disturbing.
It was Kobe Mohr’s first shift of the game against the Lethbridge Hurricanes. What should be a harmless play, a dump in, turned out to be devastating.
“I was crossing over and the head was a little tilted,” Mohr said. “The puck just came up at the right angle and got me.”
The puck, coming off his teammate’s stick, broke Mohr’s nose, orbital bone and tear duct in his left eye.
“The pain. I was squirming out there, I couldn’t really control it,” Mohr recalls of the Dec. 3 incident.
“The trainer came out as fast as he could and he got me off the ice and we went and got stitched up, and then straight to the hospital.
“It was a pretty fast process, which was really good.”
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A week-and-a-half later, a plastic surgeon put plates in his cheek, nose and eye to repair the damage.
The 18-year-old was only out of the lineup for five weeks, returning to play for the Oil Kings on a road trip in Brandon.
“I was nervous for sure, but I had a full face mask on so I wasn’t too scared,” Mohr said.
That full shield, not surprisingly, will stay on his helmet for at least the rest of this season.
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