An ice hockey official was hospitalised after a pane of glass smashed over his head during the NHL clash between Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes. Timeout coordinator Joe Foley was sat in the penalty box during the game play-off series game at the TD Garden Arena.
During the clash, the Bruins right winger David Pastrňák found the net to give the team a 3-1 lead, sending the home fans crazy in the Boston arena. The chaotic celebrations however led to a serious incident courtside, as banging from the supporters saw a pane of glass give way.
The said pane happened to be above the head of Foley, and it crashed over the head of the timeout coordinator, leaving the surrounding fans in shock.
Following the injury the Bruins official hunched over his chair, clenching his head in pain leading to a number of his colleagues and the arena medical team rushing over to help. Coley then received treatment, and the match was paused whilst he was treated rink side.
The timeout coordinator was then taken out of the arena and taken to hospital, however his current condition is unknown. The Boston side did take to social media to release a statement, sending their best wishes to the off-ice official.
The official Bruins Twitter account wrote: “Our thoughts are with the NHL off-ice official who was injured. We are sending him our best wishes.” Following the restart, it was the Boston-based team who went on to secure victory, as they came away from the clash 4-2 winners.
The smashed-glass affected game was the third leg of the two team’s play-off series, and the victory was an important one for the Bruins as it brought them back into it to leave them 2-1 down. A day later they then got themselves back level after winning leg four 5-2, with two more games left to play to decide the series.
The Bruins' star man Brad Marchand spoke after the most recent leg, and spoke about the honour of playing in such a prestigious clash. He said: "These are the most fun games to play in when there's high emotion, high intensity, and there's so much riding on the line. I mean, if you can't play in these games, what are you playing for? This is what we love and always loved, and I think that's just kind of it."
