DOCTORS: SWISS HOCKEY PLAYER PARALYZED AFTER HIT INTO BOARDS
NOTTWIL, Switzerland -- Doctors treating Swiss ice hockey player Ronny Keller say he has been left paralyzed by his injuries sustained during a playoff game.
Swiss Paraplegic Centre doctor Michael Baumberger says Keller has sustained "permanent spinal paralysis" by damage to his fourth thoracic vertebra.
Bamberger says in a statement that Keller did not sustain head or brain injuries.
The Olten defender hit the boards head first in overtime of a second-tier playoff match against Langenthal on Tuesday.
Keller was treated on the ice and airlifted by helicopter to the specialist hospital at Nottwil, where he underwent surgery.
Swiss media reported that Langenthal player Stefan Schnyder has been questioned by police, and the hockey league is investigating his challenge with Keller.
I guess I thought a story about a hockey player getting paralyzed would have got more interest around here.
Re: Swiss Hockey Player Ronny Keller Paralyzed
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 7:15 pm
by WaukeeBlues
That's hard to watch.
Scary stuff. I don't think there was any intent to injure there and the guy who hit him will probably carry this with him the rest of his life now. Very, very unfortunate. That guy could take that hit probably 5,000 times and a permanent paralysis would only result once. Probably hit the boards in precisely the wrong way and wrong place.
Re: Swiss Hockey Player Ronny Keller Paralyzed
Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 2:46 pm
by Jaykay
some background information:
schnyder and keller were buddies, and schnyder has been taken care of a care-team. he won't play this series anymore, no matter if the league suspends him or not. There's a lot of solidarity with both, keller and schnyder here, even if you don't understand the language, here's a video of game 3, actually the game after the incident. what you don't see is, when the olten-fans (keller's team) chanted schnyders name - amazing. the video is what happened pre-game and starts @ 1:43
