NHL player Chris Pronger surrounded by players, staff after injury. St. Louis vs. Detroit. 1998. (Image via screenshot)
Hockey Hall of Famer Chris Pronger detailed his serious heart injury in 1998 and its similarities with the recent frightening on-field collapse of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin.
Pronger sustained a blow to the chest and had to be revived on the ice. After the public attention to such injuries in the wake of Hamlin’s injury, the former NHL star’s story came up a lot.
“Since Damar Hamlin’s scary incident a few weeks ago, I’ve received a lot of questions about my own injury and have reflected a lot on my journey,” he wrote this week.
Pronger, who was a member of the St. Louis Blues in 1998, played in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Detroit Red Wings when he blocked a shot, and the puck hit him square in the chest. He got up and tried to skate off to the bench, but he collapsed before reaching the bench. In early January, Hamlin went into cardiac arrest after he made a tackle on a Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. Hamlin received CPR on the field and was rushed to a local Cincinnati hospital.
On Wednesday, Pronger shared his similar experience that Hamlin, who has slowly recovered, went through in a Twitter thread. He wrote:
“I played 18 years in the NHL. I won an MVP, Stanley Cup and two Olympic Gold medals. But in 1998, I almost died on the ice. Here’s the first-hand story of what happened on May 10, 1998. Second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs vs. Detroit Red Wings”
“I blocked an oncoming slap shot, that hit me directly on the heart.”
“They continued to check for a pulse but could not find one.”
“As they were about to start compressions and CPR I took a big gasp of air. My lips pursed and turned pink again and my eyes returned to their natural position.”
“I spent the night in the hospital with a fantastic group of nurses and doctors! They took amazing care of me before I flew back to St. Louis late the next morning.”
“And at the time, 1998, I was one of only 4 people he had in his database that had survived a documented concussion cordis event,” Pronger continued.
“After pouring over the data from my heart monitor and having passed all the other tests, he was cleared physically to play.”
“At the end of the day it really just became a question of whether I could block this incident out of my mind and just play the game without it lurking in the back of my head.”
“With all my questions answered I decided to head down to the arena to warm up for Game 3 and see how I felt.”
“As I left the ice from warmup, I thought to myself, how can I not play in this game?”
“Those are the moments athletes dream of. Was playing a hockey game less than 48 hours after a Commotio Cordis incident the ‘smartest thing?’ Maybe not.”
“There’s nothing I loved more than being on the ice with my brothers.”
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