"That shot hit Hillen up high. Oh mercy."

Last night the Capitals took the ice against the New York Islanders and won 7-2. 7 goals, and NO points for Alex Ovechkin. Hard to believe right?

Well, that's not the point of this post.

Late in the first period, Ovechkin collected the puck on the powerplay and fired it at the net, striking Islanders Defensemen Jack Hillen up high. Hillen instantly fell to the ice and the whistle was blown. A hush fell over the crowd as Islanders team staff were escorted on the ice, and then a stretcher was pulled out. After about 2 min or so, Hillen got up under his own power and skated to the locker room, not needing the stretcher (hey, he's a hockey player).

Watch here:


Today there are reports that Hillen was rushed to the hospital and he suffered a broken jaw and lost some teeth. He will miss 6-8 weeks, which is a huge dissapointment for the Islanders which are a team fighting for the playoffs.

Not a pleasant sight indeed, but it got me wondering...

In this particular instance Hillen was not laying out his body to block the shot, he was just unlucky. In many other instances, players do whatever it takes to get their body in front of a 100 plus MPH slap shot and try and block it away. How crazy is that?

For example, Capitals rugged fourth liner Quintin Laing took a puck to the face and also broke his jaw back on November 17, 2009. Video below (go to about 1 min into the video):


Known on the Capitals team as a shot blocker, Laing did whatever it took to not let the shot through. In this instance, that meant laying out his body and using his FACE to block it. Like Hillen, Laing suffered a broken jaw and missed considerable time. But unlike Hillen, Laing meant to block the shot.

I have played some hockey in my time and have been hit with a puck and a one of those hockey ball things. I remember once taking a shot to my shin and playing it off, only to have a huge welt there for days after. But, that shot was nowhere near the velocity of an Ovechkin shot. I cannot even begin to fathom taking a slap shot to the face. It's lucky these guys walk away with ONLY a broken jaw.

Last night Ovechkin skated over to Hillen, after the shot, and visibly felt terrible. Unfortunately, it's a part of the game and it rears its ugly head every now and then. Here's to hoping Jack Hillen has a speedy recovery and is back out on the ice this season.