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Brutal hit in Swedish league by Robyn Regehr’s brother bloodies opponent (Video)

Swedish Hockey

Defenseman Richie Regehr is the 31-year-old brother of Los Angeles Kings defenseman Robyn Regehr, and has been kicking around European leagues since he had a cup of coffee with the Calgary Flames from 2005-2007.

He’s with MODO of the Swedish Hockey League, which faced Linkoping in a playoff play-in game this week. In the third period, there was a loose puck in the neutral zone during a MODO power play. Sebastian Karlsson of Linkoping raced after it shorthanded; Regehr sought to cut him off from the puck.

Well, and cut him off from consciousness, too.

Regehr angled his body and nailed Karlsson in the head with his shoulder, dropping him face-first to the ice. A streak of blood followed his head as his body glided around the zone, finally settling into a pool of blood dripping from his face and collecting in the ice.

Karlsson was eventually helped from the ice, a towel soaking the blood on his face. He was taken to the hospital, where teammate Mike Helber later tweeted a photo showing fans that Karlsson was OK:

Regehr was given a match penalty for charging. Karlsson was diagnosed with a concussion.

The hit became big news in Sweden, with the kind of “WE MUST MAKE THE GAME SAFER!” proclaimations we usually see in the NHL preceding a Brendan Shanahan video release. As Expressen’s Henrik Leman suggested, the SHL might look into “prohibition of tackling above the waist if you do not come directly from the front, or maybe even then.”

s/t Robert Soderlind