Dallas Stars player collapses on bench; game to be rescheduled

A really great example of the importance of having defibrillators close to the bench in sports nowadays. Really a great job by the medical people. Makes me wonder if they could have saved Hank Gathers back in 1990 if they'd had a defibrillator close by.

 

That too.

 

LMU did have a defibrillator close by on their bench. That started when Gathers collapsed in a game against UC Santa Barbara around Christmas. But some dumbass doctor did not want to use it on the court because he thought it might freak out some people in the stands.

 

Anyone remember the Clint Malarchuk blade-to-the-neck from 1989 -- Blues/Sabres?

I was listening to it on the radio, the Blues call, and it was horrifying...and that was without pictures? Malarchuk would have likely died on the ice had he been at the other goal.

 

You see something like that and think how lucky he is it happened at the arena and not while he was alone in a hotel room or on a flight. Have to believe he's played his last NHL game.

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I don't know if there's a person in the game I respect more than Clint Malarchuk.

He's battled some awful issues off the ice but seems to have found professional peace with himself as goalie coach of the Flames.

 

Best wishes to Peverley.

An operational defibrillator with access to a power source might have saved the life of Alexei Cherepanov. Then again, the KHL team he was playing for didn't even have an ambulance at the rink.

 

That's what I figure too.

 

May be wrong but don't think the rhythm was atrial fibrillation. When people lose their pulse it's because the lower chambers of the heart are affected by ventricular flutter or fibrillation. This is when the AED or manual defibrillator is used to treat sudden cardiac death.
http://www.medicinenet.com/sudden_cardiac_death/article.htm

 

He was diagnosed with A-fib during training camp.

http://starsblog.dallasnews.com/2013/09/rich-peverley-to-be-out-three-weeks-after-having-procedure-to-treat-irregular-heartbeat.html/

 

A fib is not a lethal rhythm, though it has its complications.
V Fib is the killer
Two distinct and separate heart problems

 

The two things being tossed around in Stars circles are A-fib with rapid ventricular response (which I have no idea what that means or how the ventricle actually becomes involved) or V-fib. He came off the ice, took about two steps and collapsed in front of the bench.

The play by play guy gave a radio interview about it earlier today, said they checked for a pulse when he collapsed, screamed for a medic/doctor and dragged him back to the area with the AED. CPR was given, then he was shocked once to get the rhythm reset. He has suffered from a-fib both in training camp and about a week ago, but the PBP guy indicated this incident was different than those.

Lindy Ruff was a player on that Malarchuk team as well as a coach of the opposing team when Zednik had his throat cut and said this incident was much scarier than either of those.