NHL Player Loses Face, Plays Out Game

John Madden--yes, that's his real name--is a forward for the NJ Devils. He got hit in the face with a puck the other day and left the game to get tended to. He returned shortly thereafter with the giant gash in his face stitched up, some of his teeth in a cup back in the locker room, and blood still coming from his nose and ears.

As you would imagine, it was a life-altering moment: Madden switched to a helmet with a visor for the rest of the game.

From the write-up:

"Madden received an undisclosed number of stitches and played the final two periods wearing a visor on his helmet. He had a nasty gash below his eye and his face was badly swollen and black and blue after the game. Droplets of blood dripped occasionally from his nose as he talked to reporters.

"I have seen guys take a lot worse shots than this and get back out there," Madden said. "That's the way the game is played."

"The gash was nothing, it was just a big cut," Madden said. "It's like getting cut with a knife or something like that. Bone wasn't involved. You know, force was involved. It caught me pretty clean. It looked worse than it was."

"Madden was hurt when he put his stick down to deflect a power-play shot by Lightning forward Eric Perrin. The shot deflected and the puck struck him in the face and opened a cut."

Here's the picture: