Quebec minor-pro player suffers horrifying skate cut to face (Photo)
This is the face of Simon Courcelles, a centre for the Thetford-Mines Isothermic of Quebec's Ligue Nord-Americaine de Hockey, perhaps the fightingest pro league in North America. As you can see, he is pretty horrified.
There's a reason for that. This image -- Courcelles' face of horror -- is cropped from a larger image that also features the Isothermic's captain, Simon's brother Sebastien Courcelles, skating off the ice after a severe skate cut to his left cheek.
It's absolutely gruesome and horrifying. Sibling or not, if you were next to Sebastien Courcelles, you would be making the same face. Heck, if you even see this photo, there's a pretty good chance you're going to make this face.
It's highly like that this is the worst skate cut photo you've ever seen, and we cannot warn you of the image's graphic content strongly enough. If you're not the squeamish type, and the sight of blood doesn't make you faint, the unedited image, snapped by photographer Roger Gagnon for Le Journal de Quebec, is below.
Again, we have warned you.
Suffice it to say, this is the danger of playing a sport where everyone wears knives on their feet. Absolutely horrific.
According to Le Journal de Quebec, Courcelles was rushed to hospital. His condition was stable and it was unclear at the time of the writing whether the cut would require surgery, or stitches would suffice. Judging by the size of that gash, we're gonna guess surgery.
The cut happened in a very heated game between Coucelles' Isothetmic and the Trois-Rivières Viking. Within the first two minutes, the game featured three fights, including one between Sebastien Courcelles and Bruno St. Jacques.
But even when you're trying to pummel your opponents, you don't wish something like this on a player. After the game, Trois-Rivières defender Dominic Jalbert wished Courcelles a speedy recovery.
Je tiens à souhaiter un prompt rétablissement à Sébastien Courcelles de L'Isothermic. On ne souhaite jamais cela à nos adversaires #lnah
— Dominic Jalbert (@jalb71) December 8, 2013
A rough translation of that last sentence: "You never wish that on your opponents."
s/t to Robert Söderlind.
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