Blues Player Stretchered Off Ice After Taking Hockey Puck to the Neck in Freak Injury

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo:Scott Dinn/Icon Sportswire/Getty

Scott Dinn/Icon Sportswire/Getty

“I was just sitting beside him and saw something was happening,” Blues forward Alexey Toropchenkotold reporters after the game. “I told Ray [Barile, the Blues’ trainer]. He knows what he’s doing. I was just kind of curious to what’s going on. Doctors came in and, like, I think everything is good right now. But we were worried, everybody.”

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Blues coach Drew Bannister also showed concern for his player, who is in his first year with the team after two previous seasons with the Edmonton Oilers.

“I think the only way I can put it is if you’re at work, and you get a call, and one of your family members is sick, and you rush to the hospital,” Blues coach Drew Bannister said. “Holly’s a family member. That was tough. I thought we, as a group, showed a lot of fortitude, and the way mentally being able to push through that, because the easiest thing to do is your head goes somewhere else. But, we were able to get updates on Holly and kind of put our minds at ease a little bit and refocus ourselves.”

Jeff Curry/Imagn

According to the team, Holloway was alert and in stable condition at the hospital.

Still, the incident shook up his fellow teammates.

“It’s hard,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. “It’s your teammate. Then we got news that he’s going to be fine. And then, you have to wrap your head around it a little bit and go play a hockey game again, right? So that’s just, unfortunately, the reality of the sport, and it took us awhile to get going.”

USA Hockey, the American Hockey League and the International Ice Hockey Federation all now require players to wear neck protection during games, and while the NHL has not yet made the same regulations, some players have opted to wear them.

source: people.com