Russian player dies after receiving a check to the head

[JSK81 400]

http://www.eurohockey.com/article/2476-dmitri-uchaykin-passed-away.html

Another horrible hockey incident.

EDIT:

Apparently the check wasn't as bad as reported and he wasn't hit in the head.

[Machinehead2k5 32]

About the 54 second mark, just out of frame. Ucajkin skates off under his own power.

[marc0polo 0]

I really love the idea of ice hockey, but these awful accidents keep happening which turn me off the sport :(

[Chadd 916]

Wow, the other guy came most of the way across the ice to deliver that hit and launched up into him. Frankly, I'm surprised that it hasn't happened in the NHL yet. Coaches have to stop teaching players to launch up into every check and league have to start penalizing it for what it is, charging. My condolences to the family.

[chk hrd 164]

Checking is quickly becoming a lost art. It has gone from seperating someone from the puck to seperating someone from thier head, the game or worse thier life. It does not seem that coaches teach how to check anymore. They let the kids try to figure it out themselves and because kids think every hit needs to be a highlight hit or EA Sports video game hit they get dangerous. Bad hits keep getting rewarded to they keep getting worse. Hopefully this will be the wake up call hockey needs, unfortunately it had to be at the expense of someones life.

[Tyler Roy 86]

Wow! This is crazy.... Any news if he had previous brain injurys or damage? Sounds sick but I wish we had a better view of the actual hit. I think we can agree that we have seen multiple hits that look worse but the end result has not been death. I know he died at the hospital but did he collapse after leaving the ice? Scary that this hasnt happened more.

[hunt3rsean 44]

My first thought was like Chadd's. . . .I'm surprised this hasn't happened in the NHL yet. Especially with guys like Raffi Torres and Matt Cooke running around on the ice. I just mention those names because they are the most obvious...but there have been plenty of other offenders. It's very sad to see and I think hockey is lucky that this type of thing is very very very rare.

But, I agree with others, something has to be addressed with head/high hits and soon. The easiest way to fix it is start at the beginning levels of hockey and teach kids how to check properly. The very same thing has been said about football and tackling. Coaching needs to address the issue and teach kids how to properly hit without driving up high through the check all the time.

Just goes to show how little we know about the brain. Scary.

[Chadd 916]

Things like this happen more commonly with car accidents.

It's probably not a bad idea to know what to look for in a case like this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_hemorrhage

[Tyler Roy 86]

Agreed, violent head hits are almost a weekly occurrence in the NHL. The aftermath looks much worse as well (players sprawled on the ice and carted off). If I didnt know this player died and I just saw the video I would think he would be back in the next month. Scary indeed. I would hate to be the player that did this, the guilt must be awful.

My first thought was like Chadd's. . . .I'm surprised this hasn't happened in the NHL yet. Especially with guys like Raffi Torres and Matt Cooke running around on the ice. I just mention those names because they are the most obvious...but there have been plenty of other offenders. It's very sad to see and I think hockey is lucky that this type of thing is very very very rare.

But, I agree with others, something has to be addressed with head/high hits and soon. The easiest way to fix it is start at the beginning levels of hockey and teach kids how to check properly. The very same thing has been said about football and tackling. Coaching needs to address the issue and teach kids how to properly hit without driving up high through the check all the time.

Just goes to show how little we know about the brain. Scary.

[wrangler 157]

We used to hear stories every so often about someone getting hit in the head, with no immediate problems, then maybe a day or two later, dying of a cerebral hemorrhage. A lot of folks don't get checked out if they don't notice major symptoms, as we know. That's why a lot of us can only guess at how many concussions we've had.

[chippa13 1844]

Closest NHL incident is Normand Levellie, budding Bruins star in the early 80's who collapsed between periods after taking a solid hit earlier in the game. Thankfully, he survived and to this day gave me one of the greatest hockey memories watching Bourque and Orr skate with him around the Garden ice the night the Bruins and Habs closed the old barn.

[Mr. Hockey 1]

Wow, I can't believe he passed away days later. Seeing him skate off the ice made it seem like he was going to be totally fine. That's very sad.