Week After Leg Injury, Marshfield Hockey Player Celebrates State Title With Team
MARSHFIELD (CBS) - When Marshfield High School won the Division 1 state hockey championship last weekend, junior Chris Perry wasn't part of the on-ice or locker room celebration.
He was at the hospital where doctors were repairing his leg, which was cut to the bone by his own skate in the middle of that game.
While he's certainly not ready to skate yet, Perry limped up to shake hands with his coach at the team's banquet on Saturday as his teammates and their parents cheered.
WBZ-TV's Ken MacLeod reports.
It was quite a change from the silence fell over the TD Garden, when he was hit during the state championship game against Wakefield and chopped open with his own skate.
"My left skate went through my leg, and it went real deep. I could see my bone on the ice," said Perry.
Perry went out on a stretcher, hospital-bound.
As he rode in the ambulance, Perry's teammates staged a late comeback in his name. Down 2-1 late in the game, they tied it. And then, with 90 seconds left, Marshfield got the game-winner.
More than the injury itself, Perry remembers the disappointment of not being part of it.
"Just thought, 'Wow, I can't believe I'm not gonna be able to play the state championship game,'" said Perry.
Because he was not there to pile on his teammates in celebration, or to hoist the D1 trophy, or to collect his medal...
Although his comrades saw fit to borrow his jersey in tribute.
Perry said it was good for him to be back with the guys, on the mend, and looking forward to playing again next year.
"You have to work hard over the summer and fall to get my butt back in shape," said Perry.
Surgeons at Mass General repaired a 12-inch gash in Perry's leg. They said he was very lucky it didn't cut a major artery.
