Army hockey coach Brian Riley credited a team trainer with saving the life of forward Eric Huss, who suffered a severe neck injury caused by a skate during a game at Sacred Heart University.
Huss, a junior from Dallas, Texas, caught an inadvertent skate to the neck in the second period of Army’s 5–0 loss to the Pioneers in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on Jan. 5. Trainer Rachel Leahy rushed into action and took measures to control the bleeding, team officials said.
Huss recovered and returned to the West Point campus on Jan. 6 after undergoing surgery at a hospital.
“A terrible tragedy was avoided tonight because of the quick action of our trainer and the medical staff that were in the arena tonight,” Riley wrote on Twitter on Jan. 5. “Grateful that our player will be ok because of them.”
The team posted a photo on social media on Jan. 6 of Huss in a hospital bed giving a thumbs up.
Last night Eric Huss suffered an injury from an inadvertent skate to his neck. He was transported after a pivotal response from our trainer, Rachel Leahy.
Eric underwent successful surgery to repair a severe laceration to his neck and will return to West Point today. Warrior. pic.twitter.com/HBQpvexFkR
— Army Hockey (@ArmyWP_Hockey) January 6, 2023
The Atlantic Hockey Association on Jan. 9 honored trainer Leahy as player of the week for saving Huss’s life.
Our Player of the Week didn’t record a point or a minute of TOI.
Army ATC Rachel Leahy’s quick actions Thursday kept a serious injury from becoming catastrophic. There was no bigger play made in college hockey this week.
Thank you, Rachel.
📰 https://t.co/VaeXvhO2as#AHA20 pic.twitter.com/IBuWRN5dWS
— Atlantic Hockey (@Atlantic_Hockey) January 9, 2023
Leahy was also honored for her action before Jan. 8’s home game against Providence. The crowd gave her a standing ovation, and both teams applauded her with stick taps from their blue line.
Huss’s injury came almost exactly a year after a Connecticut high school hockey player died from a similar neck wound from a skate.
On Jan. 6 of last year, Benjamin Edward “Teddy” Balkind, 16, a member of the hockey team at the private coeducational St. Luke’s School in New Canaan, died following a game at the Brunswick School, a college preparatory school in Greenwich for boys. His death spurred calls to examine safety equipment in youth sports.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
