Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Fast Break

The Spokesman-Review

Hockey

Zednik released from hospital

Florida Panthers forward Richard Zednik has left a Buffalo, N.Y., hospital and returned to Florida less than a week after he was slashed in the throat by a teammate’s skate.

Zednik went home Friday after being released Thursday evening, officials at Buffalo General Hospital said. Zednik lost five pints of blood after he was accidentally sliced by the skate of teammate Olli Jokinen in a game against the Sabres.

Zednik, 32, said he barely felt the skate slice into his carotid artery, but with blood gushing from his neck he knew he was in trouble.

“I was like, ‘Whoa.’ I knew I had to get to the bench,” he said.

He was quickly put in an ambulance, and Dr. Leslie Bisson put pressure on his neck to help slow the bleeding as the ambulance headed toward the hospital.

“I remember everything,” Zednik told The Buffalo News. “I remember the doctor holding my neck and telling him, ‘Don’t push so hard. I can’t breathe.’ I talked to my trainer (Dave Zenobi). I remember them saying, ‘OK, go to surgery.’ “

Dr. Sonya Noor repaired the artery that had been sliced open but not entirely severed.

“Everything just went so well,” Zednik said. “You look at it like that, and I was lucky. They saved my life.”

Track and field

Lagat continues on a roll

Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia set a world record for the indoor 2 miles in Birmingham, England, and Bernard Lagat continued his successful buildup to the Olylmpics with his third win in three meets.

Bekele ran 8 minutes, 4.35 seconds at the Norwich Union Grand Prix on Saturday. He took 0.34 off the mark of 8:04.69 that Haile Gebrselassie set in 2003.

Lagat, the reigning 1,500- and 5,000-meter world champion, won the 1,500 in Glasgow, Scotland, three weeks ago, followed by the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in New York. He added another 1,500 victory Saturday in the second-fastest time in the world this year (3:35.23). He finished strongly and defeated Daniel Komen by 1.32 seconds.