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SPHL game suspended after player suffers serious skate cut (Video)

sean leahy
Contributing writer
@FredZwicky

A horrific on-ice injury halted Saturday night’s Southern Professional Hockey League game between the Peoria Rivermen and Huntsville Havoc.

Early in the second period, as the Rivermen were leading 2-1, Havoc forward Justin Cseter collided with Peoria’s Dennis Sicard and landed on his skate, cutting his thigh.

According to the Peoria Journal Star, Cseter’s parents and grandparents were in attendance and watched in horror as blood began accumulating on the ice as trainer’s from both teams were rushing to the player.

Doctors said Cseter suffered a wound about 1 1/2 inches deep and about six inches wide across his inner thigh on his right leg. His muscle was cut, but the skate blade missed his artery. Thirty minutes later he was rolled out on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance and hospitalized, with surgery ahead of him.

After Cseter was taken away, both head coaches joined a call with league president Jim Combs about what to do next. All agreed to suspend the game with a decision on when to continue — the game was stopped with 13:37 left in the second period — coming this week.

The injury hit close to home for Peoria goaltender Kyle Rank, who is good friends with Zach Redmond,  who suffered a serious cut by a skate during a Winnipeg Jets practice in 2013.

According to the Havoc, Cseter was released from a hospital early this morning and returning back home with the team.

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!