Buffalo Sabres announcer Rob Ray took a puck right between the eyes while providing color commentary during the Sabres game against the Arizona Coyotes on Monday night. And the former enforcer, who played 13 season with the Sabres from 1990 through 2003, made it to the end of the game in spite of the incident.
The 55-year-old had been looking down at his notes from between the benches when the puck was deflected off a player's stick and caught him by surprise during the third period of the game, which the Sabres would go on to win 5–2. Refs quickly stopped the game to check on Ray's status before resuming, as he was visibly bloodied.
Ouch #LetsGoBuffalo #Yotes pic.twitter.com/wiLqWzXD1g
— Buffalo Hockey Moments (@SabresPlays) December 12, 2023
However, he soldiered through and even kept his headset on while attempting to clean up the wound with a towel.
"I'm just trying to clean by glasses up a little bit so I can put them on and see," Ray later said during the broadcast, adding that he would probably need stitches after the game and that his notes were covered in blood. "A normal guy would have been carried out of here," he joked.
When asked by a fellow announcer if the hit "brought back some memories," Ray admitted that it did. "Yeah, it felt good. Actually, it felt really good," he said with a laugh. "Kinda like, give me a stick, let's go."
He took a puck to the head between the benches and came back 😳 pic.twitter.com/YdPoT2jzuL
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 12, 2023
Ray built himself quite the reputation during his NHL career. Not only does he still hold the Sabres record for the most penalty minutes in one player's tenure with 3,189 minutes, but he even had an anti-fighting rule nicknamed after him.
During altercations with other players, Ray would quickly remove his jersey and shoulder pads to give him an advantage over his opponents, who weren't able to clutch and grab his uniform. As a result, the NHL created a rule that states that "a player who engages in fisticuffs and whose sweater is not properly 'tied-down' (sweater properly fastened to pants), and who loses his sweater (completely off his torso) in that altercation, shall receive a game misconduct."
The clause was subsequently called "the Rob Ray Rule" by sports commentators who saw the rule as a direct result of Ray's style of fighting. In other words, the Coyotes probably are indeed lucky that no one gave him a hockey stick.
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/7LcGw3D
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