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In the first period of their game on Tuesday night against the St. Louis Blues, San Jose Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle was taken off the ice on a stretcher.
Boyle was playing the puck in the corner boards when Maxim Lapierre hit Boyle from behind and was given a five-minute major for boarding. Fights broke out after the hit but all the while Boyle lay motionless in the corner as the Sharks trainer ran onto the ice to help Boyle. Eventually he was taken off the ice on a stretcher.
Good news is that things do sound encouraging for Boyle at this point.
#SJSharks spokesman says: "Dan was alert and moving his extremities and has been taken to a local hospital for evaluation."
— Kevin Kurz (@KKurzCSN) October 16, 2013
Lapierre is no stranger to delivering bad hits. He was suspended four games in 2010 for boarding Scott Nichol. You can expect that he'll have a hearing with the NHL on this hit, likely an in-person hearing that would open him up to a suspension beyond five games.
The more immediate concern though is the health of Boyle. It definitely did not look good at the time, hopefully he'll be OK with some rest.
