O'Byrne Turns Other Cheek After Accident
The following article featuring former Cornell standout Ryan O'Byrne appeared March 5 on the Edmonton Journal Web site.
BY JIM MATHESON
DENVER — Colorado Avalanche defenceman Ryan O’Byrne needed 100 stitches in his cheek and inside his mouth when Taylor Hall’s razor-sharp skate blade sliced into him 10 days ago, but he had the luck o’ the Irish on his side because he’s not going to lose feeling in his face.
“It was pretty bad ... it (the skin) was hanging there,” said O’Byrne, who was hounding the Edmonton Oilers rookie winger in the Avs’ end early in the 5-1 Oilers’ win in Denver, when Hall tried to jump over O’Byrne’s stick and his skate kicked the blue-liner. Amazingly, O’Byrne kept playing for another 45 seconds before there was a whistle.
“Three hours of surgery from 12 (midnight) until 3 a.m. I was out cold at the hospital. Seventy stitches on the outside, 30 inside. Everything was cut through (skin), but the nerve-ending was intact. If it had cut the nerve I’d have had a droop.”
Complete article can be accessed via the Journal Web site by clicking here.
