CHURCHBRIDGE — The night of Dec. 7 is one that Cole Cusitar will remember for the rest of his life. In the third period of a game that night between the Churchbridge Imperials and the host Esterhazy Flyers, a serious accident occurred in the Dana Antal Arena that could have been very tragic if not for the quick response of those in attendance.
In the final minutes of that game, Cusitar — the captain of the Imperials — had just exited a face-off for control of the puck. The Flyers took the puck up the ice, firing a shot on the Imperials’ net with goalie Colby Entz making the save, resulting in a stoppage of play.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the ice, the blade of an Esterhazy player’s skate accidentally sliced Cusitar’s neck. Within minutes, Cusitar was rushed to hospital in Esterhazy, then onward to Yorkton by ambulance for treatment, receiving 80 stitches on the inside and outside of his neck. Cusitar was later released and cleared to continue his recovery at home, much to the relief of family and friends.
Immediately after the incident, the Imperials noted all players on their team will now wear neck protection, and while use of the equipment is not mandatory for senior-level hockey in Saskatchewan, the SEHL strongly suggested all players and on-ice officials consider wearing it.
“Neck guards are mandatory within Hockey Saskatchewan for all levels of hockey, except for senior hockey, which Cole was participating in,” said Kelly McClintock, Hockey Saskatchewan’s general manager. “We have approximately 115 senior teams, and the use of neck guards has been left to their personal choice.”
The World-Spectator caught up with Cusitar over a cup of coffee while he was recovering at home last week.
First of all, how are you feeling today?
I’m doing better, I’ve still got a little bit of swelling, a little bit of soreness, not as bad as what it was a few days ago. My left ear kind of feels like it’s frozen, a little bit of nerve damage from the cut. But I’m hoping that in the recovery process here, some of that will come back for sure.
I’m so thankful to be here, having this conversation with you. You know, three-quarters to an inch the other way, and it might have been a different story. Just very grateful and thankful for God and everyone who was saying prayers that night for me to be here.
I was wondering if you could take me back to that moment on the ice late in the third period in Esterhazy. What do you remember from that moment in the game?
It’s pretty crazy how much I actually do remember. I think I probably know more than some of the people that were trying to aid me! We were down 5-0, unfortunately, we were on a five-on-three power play, trying to make it more of a game there on the five-on-three. I remember the ref dropped the puck and whatnot, and I looked down, and it was a little puck battle there, trying to get the draw. I get pretty low on my face-offs, just to try and get a good centre of gravity.
I remember it was just a little errant battle for the puck. I think he fell. I’ve heard from a couple guys that he just kind of lost his footing. His skate came up, and just kind of clipped me. At the time, it felt like I got swatted with something, I remember taking off my gloves, and I started feeling around. When I looked, I saw there was blood in my hand and some dripping on the ice, and I went, ”Oh, geez, I’m cut. ” Then I noticed that it was shooting out where that artery was nicked, and that's when I put my hand on there.
By then, the Esterhazy player on the defensive side, he was screaming at the top of his lungs to get help, get somebody out here right now. I remember telling myself, “Well, you better get up, man, because there’s no point staying here,” so I got up, I started skating to the bench. One of my teammates came over, and he put some pressure on the wound, and he kind of guided me to the bench. I remember getting to the tunnel to go to the dressing room, and in the meantime, one of my teammates, he skated across the ice screaming for his wife, who was a nurse — and her name’s Katie (Putland) — she jumped into the penalty box because they had netting on the rink, so she couldn’t jump onto the ice. She jumped into the penalty box, and they opened up the door and she ran across the ice as fast as she could. This is what I was told about, I didn’t see this in real time. She ran across the ice. I was in the hallway trying to go to the dressing room, and I believe my trainer— Steven Shackleton — he said, “No, no, no, no, we got to go out that door now!” He pointed me to go out the door of the back of the rink.
In the meantime, my assistant coach, Mark Prier, he had his truck running, the doors were open and when I got outside, Steven and Katie had pressure on my cut, and they got me into the back of the truck, and they started driving me to the Esterhazy hospital.
On the way to the hospital, I could remember my wife frantically freaking out, “Is he going to be OK? Katie, is he going to be okay?” and Katelyn was just like, “I don’t know, Jody. I’m just trying to maintain pressure on this cut.” A lot of uncertainty was floating through the air, and I know in their minds at that time. Steven and Katelyn were both applying amounts of pressure on the laceration on the way to the hospital.
We got to the Esterhazy hospital, my wife ran in to get a wheelchair quickly because I still had all my hockey gear on. In the meantime, on the way to the hospital, I know my wife was trying to get a hold of somebody at the hospital, but she couldn’t get through, but I think that’s because there were so many people phoning in already that the line was just plugged up with phone calls.
Yhe nurses came outside, and I think it kind of even caught them off guard. I think they figured it was just another hockey player with an injury, they didn’t really understand the severity of this situation. They came out, and they got me in as quick as they could. They then threw some gauze pads, or some kind of pads to try and put pressure on the wound. I remember sitting on the stretcher there, and Katelyn was telling me, “Do you feel dizzy?” and I said, “No, I feel good.” “OK, you just keep breathing — breathing through your nose and out through your mouth and just try and keep that heart rate down.”
They put me on one of the beds there in the hospital. The one nurse came and she just applied pressure for about a half an hour. In the meantime, they were putting IVs in me, just in case things went south. My coach and my trainer took off my skates, they started to cut off my jersey, they took off my shoulder pads, everything else. They kept enormous amounts of pressure on the wound. It was starting to hurt by then a bit because of the pressure, and maybe the shock was wearing off.
I was starting to feel the cut a little bit more, but happy to kind of be alive in that moment. So then about a half an hour, the nurses switched out, because the one nurse, she was getting a little fatigued from holding pressure on it. After they switched out nurses — it was somewhere around there — they were on the phone with the STARS medical team and were maybe noticing that they were going to get STARS out. I do believe when that was called, they called off the hockey game, the way I’ve understood it, the way the guys have informed me.
So they called off the game when STARS was called because that’s when I think everyone was under the understanding this is a pretty big deal here. I remember the STARS guy was on the phone with the doctor, just trying to get some intel from her, “What’s going on, doctor, what do you see? ” she says, “Well, we can’t get the bleeding to stop, ” and he says, “OK. ” I remember she left for a bit.
The nurse just kept maintaining pressure, just having a light conversation with me. And I know my coaching staff, my trainer and Katelyn, they were all kind of looking at me, with a little bit of worry in their eyes. My wife was still holding my hand, praying. After about an hour of the nurses applying pressure, I remember the doctor came back in, and the STARS guy said, “Can you assess the wound and give me some detail of what you’re seeing? ” They pulled back the gauze pads, and the doctor said, “Well, actually the bleeding has really subsided. There is still some blood, but it isn’t like what it was before. I remember the STARS guy saying, “Well, this is good, this is very good. Tell me what you see. Tell me what you see. And we’ll assess, and we’ll make a plan from there. She told him what was going on, what was cut. She said, “I think it looks like one of the smaller arteries in there was nicked, and that’s where a lot of the bleeding was coming from.”
The STARS guy said, “You know what this is good that you guys got the bleeding to stop, keep pressure on it for now. It sounds like you guys will be able to get him to Yorkton, and I think Yorkton will be able to get him fixed up and get him into the recovery process.” The doctor left the room, I think she was still on the phone with STARS, just drawing up a plan of what they should do.
In the meantime, the emergency medical team came, and they were working out a plan to get me to the Yorkton facility. They bandaged me up really good, put me on the stretcher, the EMTs come and they took me into the ambulance. My wife came with me, gave everyone some fist pumps and told them it would be OK, we left Esterhazy and went to Yorkton.
We got to Yorkton, they wanted to do a quick CT scan, so they put some dye into me. I think they wanted to really see where the holes were in that artery, where some of the blood was coming from. They wheeled me into the ER side of the hospital, they put me in a room where I was met with a couple nurses. The doctor came in a little bit later and they peeled back the wrap job they did in Esterhazy and the gauze pads. The doctor looked at it and went, “This is a pretty good cut, but it’s a nice, clean one for the most part ”, there’s a few chewed-up spots that aren’t too great, but she said, “For the most part, this is something we can fix you up in the morning. ”
They wrapped me up, put me and my wife in a room. I don’t think she slept at all that night, she was still overwhelmed with what had happened. I had a little bit of a sleep.
In the morning, I was met by my coach, Tim (Roussin). He come by and said good morning to everyone, and made sure I was doing good and give my wife a coffee. The doctor then met me and said, “This is what we’re going to do, we’re going to put you under for a surgical procedure. You’re going to have an anesthesiologist come in.” And I said, “OK, well, that sounds good, maybe I’ll get to go to sleep here for a bit with some stitching. ”
So we’re about to go in and the one OR lady came up and she says, “Well, Cole, there’s been a little bit of a change of plans. ” I said. “Oh? What’s going on?” I think at the end, it was the anesthesiologist couldn’t get to the hospital. The storm was pretty bad in our area at that point, a lot of roads were closed and everything. So they said, “Well, we ”re going to put you under local anesthetic.” And I said, “OK, what’s that? ” She said, “Well, we’re just going to freeze you up really good, and we’ll just stitch you up.” And I’m just like, “OK, right on!”
They wheeled me into the operating room, they just started freezing everything they could, and away they went stitching.
It was over an hour. The stitches went well, they took me out of there, they wheeled me into a room, and she said, “We’re going to keep you here for a day and overnight, just to make sure that you’re not bleeding anymore. The bandages are still intact, and hopefully by tomorrow morning, we’ll get you shipped out of here and you can go home.” So, come Monday, around dinner time I was able to go home.
That seems pretty fast!
It did seem a little bit quick, but I was happy to get home and see my kids and be with my wife. It’s crazy how things can happen, and how grateful a person is for everything. The guys were telling me when STARS was called and they called off the game, I know the boys were saying that they all said a prayer —linked arms and said a prayer for me — and I want to say around that time that’s, I think when the bleeding actually subsided enough so they could assess the situation. I can’t give thanks enough to the Big Guy up top for having his hand on me.
Thanks to everyone who aided Katelyn Putland with her being the nurse that ran across the ice; Steven Shackleton, the trainer, with him, just aiding me getting out of the rink and helping Katie put some pressure on that wound; Mark Prier, getting the truck ready for me to get to the hospital; and anyone who aided with the medical team. I don't know the names of any of the people. It was so quick, it happened so fast, and I can't thank any everyone enough for what they did.
The beauty of small towns, everybody tends to just come together and help immediately. There’s no balking, they jump into action. I suppose your family has witnessed that, too, coming home Monday, I‘m assuming you probably had a lot of messages and maybe some cooked meals dropped off.
We certainly have! Even Sunday night after I was recovering from the stitches and just hanging out in the hospital, I finally looked at my phone around seven o ”clock that night and—I don't even remember how many it was — north of 60 direct text messages, which I caught up on. There were some guys on Facebook and other means of social media that were connecting with me — old teammates, coaches, and friends that I haven’t maybe spoken with in over a decade. It was nice to hear the support and the love coming from everyone.
It’s amazing how many people come together in these situations. I wish people had come together for better means, but it was good to hear from everyone. There were a few people who swung by the house, they were just happy to see me, give me a big hug, and drop off a meal for me and the family. The hockey community is such a great community. It seems like everyone in Canada enjoys the game and everyone comes together, especially in these small communities, everyone knows everyone, and like you said, everyone pulls together in those moments.
Your road to recovery—what does that look like now? Do you think you’ll be on the ice this season yet, or taking a breather?
I haven’t had a chance to sit with the doctor yet, but as of right now, for the healing, it’s been going good. I’m still a little swollen today, like I mentioned, a little sore, the ear’s kind of still numb from a little bit of nerve damage, hoping the recovery process can take away some of that. I haven’t had a chance to chat with the doctor, I believe I sit down with her next week, just to get an assessment of what’s going on with the cut, but I’m pretty eager to get back out there.
I know it sounds crazy to some that I would actually attempt doing this again, but I love the sport of hockey. It’s something I hold dear to my heart. It’s always been there for me. It’s almost like medicine to me. I’m happy to be here, to maybe play the game again or coach it. I do a lot of coaching and playing, and I ‘m just happy to continue with the sport I love.
The SEHL has strongly suggested the use of neckguards. What would your take be on that?
Our team itself is now going to accommodate all its players with Kevlar type of neck protection of their choice, which is great. I’ll be wearing one from here on out, it’s just too close for comfort that kind of injury, you know? I’m happy to share this story with anyone who will listen or pay attention. I think there ‘s a couple other teams that are going to adopt the neckguard now.
It isn ‘t a mandatory thing, and I ‘m not one of those guys that ‘s going to force anybody to do anything. I’m a pro-choice kind of person, but you know, anything can happen, and as quick as it happened, as crazy and as weird as it happened, a half or three-quarters of an inch the other way, it could have been a different story. I might not be here having this conversation. I just hope people, before they step onto the ice, with or without one, they just have a thought like, man, you know, things can happen fast and without a piece of equipment. It’s there for a reason.
Growing up as a kid, it was maybe a discomfort thing, but the technology now with the evolution of neck protection and some of the other hockey equipment now, it’s probably a little bit more comfortable. It’s not like what it was when a guy was young, and had the dog collar neck protector on where it almost felt like it restricted a guy’s breathing a bit at times.
I’m not going to force you to wear it, but it is that last line of defence if anything ever does happen. It might not stop something fully, but it’s there for a reason.
Speaking of the love of the game, I know you were quite instrumental in bringing the Imperials back to action in Churchbridge.
I remember playing in Churchbridge over a decade ago, finished up my small Junior A career, and I was reached out to by a relative to come to Churchbridge to play some senior hockey back in 2009-10. Unfortunately, just due to a lack of local people, the team dissolved.
We had 10 or 11 local guys that could still play some pretty decent puck, and I told myself, “Man, we should get a team again.” It was a busy summer on the phone trying to get some guys together to come on out and get the senior team going. It was almost a deadline decision, but we got it done.
This is our second season now, and it’s been a lot of fun. I think it sparked a little bit more interest for the minor sports. It sure helped the Sask East Hockey League with another team and the fans, the kids, the support we’ve had throughout these past two years has been awesome. We love going out and playing the game we love in front of our fans. I wish we had a little bit more wins in the win column than we do, but that’s something we can build on, and hopefully, one day get a banner hung in our barn.
Maybe some of these kids look up to us until they realize they’re just a bunch of working men that just play the sport of hockey at a little bit more intense level. But, if we can be something a kid looks up to, until they’re to the age where they can find some other people that maybe they look up to besides us. It’s nice to see the kids come out and we fist pump them, and the smiles on their face, it’s a local thing that we sure love, and we sure love our fans and anyone who comes out and supports us.
