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Clint Malarchuk almost bled to death when his throat was cut on the ice. Shocking tale of survivor of sport’s most gruesome injury
As he knelt next to the goal clutching his slit throat, while blood pulsed out like a fountain and pooled around him, all Clint Malarchuk could think of was to get off live TV so that his mum did not have to watch him die. The footage remains on YouTube of the extraordinary incident precisely 26 years ago on Sunday when the then 27-year-old ice hockey goaltender suffered one of the most gruesome injuries ever seen in professional sport. His throat cut by a stray skate, he survived thanks to his team’s trainer reaching into his neck to pinch shut the severed artery that would later need 300 stitches.
But the traumatic accident led to a spiral of nightmares, insomnia, chronic depression and alcoholism. Twice he tried to kill himself, with the bullet from one attempt still lodged next to his right eye. ‘Once I realized this could be death, my first thought was “get off the ice, go through the gate, get off camera”,’ Malarchuk told The Mail on Sunday. ‘So my mum didn’t have to watch me die.’
Interesting side note about the athletic trainer who saved Malarchuk’s life. His name is Jim Pizzutelli. Pizzutelli was an Army medic who served in Vietnam. He stuck his hand into Malarchuk’s neck, found the artery and pinched it off. Pizzutelli held on until the doctors arrived and stabilized Malarchuk’s wound. The lesson is when things go south you want a vet there who won’t panic when everyone else is losing their shit and will just keep working the problem until it’s solved. In other words, we got this.
Vets: When you need someone to reach down your throat and unfuck your shit.
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