A local hockey player is grateful for the quick response shown following a harrowing on-ice incident at Affinity Place on the weekend.
Chase Gedak, a forward with the Estevan Apex midget AA Bruins, suffered a severe cut from a skate blade during a home game on Jan. 25 against the Swift Current Broncos.
“Someone from our team shot the puck, I think from out by the point, and the goalie was down, and he thought he had it in his chest. The puck was sitting there right beside his pad, so I just dove to knock it in,” Gedak recalled.
He missed the puck, and during the play, he felt like he was accidentally kicked by a skate. It didn’t feel like it cut him, but when he looked down, “I seen some things I shouldn’t have seen,” Gedak said. Blood was on the ice from the injury.
Gedak immediately skated off the ice with a wrist injury that included some cut tendons. The injury required about three hours of surgery in Regina on Jan. 26, and he was discharged from the hospital that night.
Gedak praised several people for their quick response, including team trainer Richard Winton. Also helping out with the response were Dylan Lafrentz, who is the trainer of the Estevan Bruins, and Lloyd Benson, who is the father of one of the players of the team.
“They all got the bleeding stopped pretty quickly, so they all did a pretty good job,” said Gedak.
He also lauded the staff at St. Joseph’s Hospital, who stitched up his wound the day of the incident.
While he his regaining movement in his fingers, Gedak likely won’t be back in the lineup for the midget AA Bruins this year.
Hockey wasn’t the only sport on his mind when the incident occurred.
He has committed to play golf for the University of Arkansas-Monticello, an NCAA Division 2 program, starting this fall. Gedak has won numerous provincial golf titles at the junior and high school levels.
“If I give it the proper time to heal and let it get back to 100 per cent, it should be back to normal It shouldn’t affect any part of my golf game at all,” said Gedak.
Once the significance of the injury settled in, he was concerned about his golf future, and if he would be able to play this year.
As for hockey, he hopes he can still play the game at a more casual level if he can’t rejoin the Bruins this season.
Estevan defeated the Broncos 6-3 in the game, and clinched the regular season South Division title.
