Play hockey long enough..

[_HSB_b345t 0]

So, how's this for freak accidents:

Inline game: Puck gets dumped into our end down the far side. I'm playing up on offense (right side). The left D and left wing pursue the attacking forward. The attacking defenseman, who dumped the puck, slides over to the middle and I step up to cover. *BAM* Neither of us looking, we collide -- my face slamming into his face.

The good news: I was wearing a visor and a mouth guard, so my teeth, nose and eyes are fine.

The bad news: He was wearing a cage, so my lips and chin took the brunt of the impact.

4 stitches in the lip and 3 in the chin.

Define irony: having to wear a cage because you collided, face-to-face, with another player resulting in lacerations and 7 facial stitches.. because the other player was wearing a cage.

[dangler16 0]

Now you're a hockey player! I rarely play roller but on Ice I stay away from the bird cages as much as possible. I swear every time I get close to one of those people I catch a stick in the face. What pisses me off even more is that they don't check to see if they cut you or say sorry.

[fatwabbit 93]

I agree with dangler to a certain extent... I wear a cage myself, but have been hit numerous times by stray shots and sticks to know that a cage is much better than a visor HANDS DOWN....

[NuggyBuggy 0]

Define irony: having to wear a cage because you collided, face-to-face, with another player resulting in lacerations and 7 facial stitches.. because the other player was wearing a cage.

Of course, who is to say what might have happened if one of you hadn't been wearing a cage and your faces had collided ? Maybe your mouths hit each other and you both lose teeth. Maybe his chin hits your teeth, you lose teeth and cut him, and with bodily fluid exchange you both end up wondering about the other guy's personal life.

[Moose 1]

Some self portraits from the hospital bed. Classy :)

[_HSB_b345t 0]

Some self portraits from the hospital bed. Classy :)

Those myspace kids got nothing on me!

[Moose 1]

certainly better than this girl

Waring: A bit of potty humor

http://thisisphotobomb.com/2009/04/30/phot...-portrait-fail/

[in da crease 0]

What if the other guy didn't wear a cage or visor. Then he would be saying...

Define irony: having to wear a cage or visor because you collided, face-to-face, with another player resulting in lacerations and 7 facial stitches.. because the other player was wearing a shield.

The unfortunate part is that there is no right answer and/or no rule in most adult leagues, which means you have guys wearing cages, shields and/or nothing at all. The combination makes the game more dangerous than if nobody had a cage or shield at all, IMO.

[Bri5253 0]

The unfortunate part is that there is no right answer and/or no rule in most adult leagues, which means you have guys wearing cages, shields and/or nothing at all. The combination makes the game more dangerous than if nobody had a cage or shield at all, IMO.

Your talking about one aspect to injury. Your looking at just collisions. What about stick, puck, ice , skates, etc. Thats where the cage/shield come into play. Sorry your comment makes no sense. First time posting but been reading this forum for years. Just decided to join this month, but after this comment i had to say something.

[IniNew 53]

What it comes down to is, if someone is wearing a cage, you might as well wear one too. If you don't, you get injured... then you see (not including the op, he's just showing off scars) people coming onto forums like this to complain about those wearing cages.

[lotus 2]

This is the first time I've ever felt like someone tried to make me feel guilty for wearing a cage, instead of calling me a smart human being with a pretty face.

[HattrickSwayze 3]

Atleast you didn't lose any teeth. I'd take the stitches over missing teeth any day of the week.

As far as cages go, I'd like to play without one, but with the amount of times I've been hit in the face in only a year of playing, I wouldn't have any eyes or teeth left. Either that or my face would look like the guy from Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

[Tikkanen 1]

The last time I spent 4 hours in the ER I realized it wasn't that cool to not wear full facial protection. It wasn't the pain, the pain killing injections, the stitches, it was the realization that I would get about 3 hours sleep and have to wake up and go to work the next day.

[Jason Harris 31]

Define irony: having to wear a cage because you collided, face-to-face, with another player resulting in lacerations and 7 facial stitches.. because the other player was wearing a cage.

I think even more ironic is I have a half-inch scar across the bridge of my nose from a cut I sustained while wearing a full cage.

I was playing in a pickup when someone passed to me coming out of the defensive zone. The other guy was around his team's blue line, so I put my head down to build up some speed, then looked up as I got past the red line to assess my options. Normally, especially in a pickup, one would expect the other guy to be around his blue line, maybe in his zone, and skating backwards. I was shocked to discover in the last second that he was kind of jumping into me, so I tried to quickly turn my shoulder into him to brace for the blow. That motion brought my head to about his chest level, and the force of the impact brought my helmet quickly down an inch-and-a-half, slicing my nose.

When I looked at it later, I discovered my helmet screws had loosened slightly and the helmet was looser than it should have been. Still, I'm pretty confident this was intentional, but I have no idea why. I had only skated at that pickup once before and, although I was better than the majority of this group, I think I might have taken two shots all night, preferring to pass to other players. I certainly wasn't showing anyone up, and I never play dirty, so I don't know what got under his craw. I'm not one to start a fight, but I looked to line this guy up all night after this, but no opportunity ever arose.

After that, I went to the emergency room and received six stitches and a permanent scar. At least until I drop $500 on laser surgery. I'll take craggy lines all over my face for old age, but not artificial ones!

[87vert 0]

I think even more ironic is I have a half-inch scar across the bridge of my nose from a cut I sustained while wearing a full cage.

lol, I have the same exact scare but it was from the fan in my room. I turned on the light one day and the glass bulb came down and smashed me in the face. If it wasn't for my glasses I could have been blinded from the glass.

[Roach 0]

Not doing an I told you so here. That's one of the many reasons why I took the leap from playing with a half shield most of my hockey years to a full cage. Sigh...the transition still bothers me.

Think about it this way, buddy - you look a lot better now with the battle wound and potential battle scars :)