Oh god....something bad happened

[njdevils783]

Wow this is just unbelievable, prayers and thoughts with him and his family. Really puts things into perspective...playing a game one minute next layed out on a stretcher... hockey means nothing at that point who really gives a shyt about when there gonna play more hockey... poor guy

[mkstatto]

Sadly i've found a link:

http://www.badongo.com/vid.php?file=Redwin...ing.wmv&s=black

[Weekes Head]

Sadly i've found a link:

http://www.badongo.com/vid.php?file=Redwin...ing.wmv&s=black

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

"Video not found."

[mkstatto]

http://www.badongo.com/vid.php?file=Redwin...ing.wmv&s=black

Hope that works

Sorry

Edited November 22, 2005 by mkstatto

[langsgirl]

wow, that got really scary when you see the guy get down and start pumping on his chest.

Hopefully the reports are correct this time in saying he is stable etc.

Edited November 22, 2005 by langsgirl

[DevsRule]

I give credit to those who assisted him so quickly. They very well could have saved his life.

[njdevils783]

Its good to know that the medical staff present at the games is equpped to handle even the most serious problems

[bruins4777]

they play a game against the avs on wednesday...i wonder how the team is going to react to this.

at least they don't have to play a game tomorow...that would be killer.

nonetheless. great job by the guys who helped him out. The detroit announcers were talking over a video of fischer being given CPR, you could tell they really saved his life right there.

During my one study hall this year, some kid had a seizure, he turned incredibly pale and was drooling and collappsed and such, he left school early, took a day off and came back the next looking fine, so hopefully fishcer's seizure is somewhat of that level...or not to serious...or something like that. i dunno. that might have sounded insesntive kinda...not going for that all.

[Steven M.]

That's a terrible situation to watch unfold. Glad to hear he is doing alright though. Hopefully he has a full recovery.

[IAmCanadian27]

Man, that's scary. It sounds pretty serious too if they had to do CPR. I hope he turns out to be all right.

[JerseyDevil86]

Wow...I heard about this on ESPN News. I'm glad they cancelled the rest of the game. I don't think that anyone could have paid attention to the game after that happened. I hope that he is doing well and makes a full recovery. He and his family are in my prayers.

[Blueline]

That is a seriously frightening video.

[IAmCanadian27]

I was talking to my mom (she's a nurse in the ICU and used to be one in the cardiac care unit) about what happened with Fischer and she helped me understand the situation more. She said his heart condition (thicker heart, making it harder to pump the blood) probably wasn't what caused the seizure, but is most likely what caused his heart to stop afterwards. Now hopefully they'll be able to figure out what caused his seizure so it won't happen again, especially in a situation where there aren't medical personnel on hand.

[Weekes Head]

According to TSN.ca:

Canadian Press

11/21/2005 11:45:27 PM

DETROIT (AP-CP) - Detroit Red Wings defenceman Jiri Fischer suffered a seizure and had his heart stop on the team's bench during the first period of an NHL game against the Nashville Predators on Monday night.

Fischer was given CPR at the bench by team physician Dr. Tony Colucci before the 25-year-old native of the Czech Republic was removed on a stretcher. He was taken to hospital and listed in stable condition.

''His heart was stopped,'' Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. ''They hooked up the auto defibrillator and shocked him.''

It wasn't immediately clear what caused the seizure.

Team spokesman John Hahn said Fischer was taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital and was stable, breathing on his own and responsive.

In a release late Monday, the Red Wings said Fischer was visited by teammates and coaches and that he was ''jovial and in good spirits.''

The team says Fischer will remain in hospital for further testing over the next two days.

''It's our understanding, the reports from the hospital, that he is fine and he will be fine,'' Babcock said.

Play did not resume and the game was called with 7:31 left in the first period. Nashville was leading 1-0 at the time.

Fischer logged four minutes 52 seconds of playing time - covering six shifts. He recorded one hit and was on the ice when Nashville's Greg Johnson scored the game's only goal. That occurred just 1:02 before the game was halted.

Play was stopped after the Wings alerted officials to a problem on the bench. The teams were immediately sent to their dressing rooms, but some Detroit players remained near the bench and looked on while CPR was administered.

''First of all, everybody is definitely caught by surprise,'' Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman said. ''We turn and see Jiri laying between the boards and the bench and we're not sure why.

''You fear for the guy's life at that moment. I can't remember anything like that.''

Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan stayed on the ice and helped Fischer's fiancee, Avery, across the surface to be with him.

''Obviously, she was very worried and concerned. She just wanted to be next to Jiri,'' said Shanahan.

The decision was made to resurface the ice then, and the remaining time was to be added to the second period.

The game was later called.

''It was obvious to everybody involved that it was the right decision,'' Predators coach Barry Trotz said. ''It was very disturbing to both sides and I think the NHL recognized it, the players recognized it. To be quite honest, the game became very secondary. When a friend or a teammate was in danger like Jiri was in, then the decision was made for everybody to reschedule it.''

It was not immediately clear whether the game would be played in its entirety or resume from the point of the stoppage.

''Our primary objective is that Jiri is taken care of,'' Trotz said.

Fans at Joe Louis Arena were not immediately told what was happening and many were shown talking on cellphones. An in-house PA announcer later told the crowd that Fischer was ''alert and responsive'' more than 40 minutes after play was stopped. A loud cheer went up.

Fischer, who played for the QMJHL's Hull Olympiques, is in his sixth NHL season and won a Stanley Cup with Detroit in 2002.

He was diagnosed with a heart abnormality in September 2002, causing him to miss two days of practice. The problem was found on an electrocardiogram as part of a routine battery of tests during the Red Wings' pre-season physicals. When the result was abnormal, Fischer was given a stress test that he passed.

''There is a little abnormality, but nothing that will stop me from playing,'' Fischer said at the time. ''It's nothing that will bother me emotionally.''

He said that his heart essentially is a little thicker than normal.

''I wasn't scared about the abnormality,'' Fischer said. ''But I was scared about not playing hockey again. That was a shock for me.''

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=144010&hubname=nhl

[devilsfan26]

Wow I was scared reading this thread at first, good to see he's doing ok. Didn't something like this happen to a baseball manager a few years ago?

[Derek21]

Wow, that's scary.

[puckrock]

I've been so shaken up about this. I was watching the game on CI when it happend and holy crap - I almost cried that was one of the scariest things I've seen.

My Prayers, Thoughts, and Best Wishes are with him and his family.

[annabelle]

Choosing not to play the rest of the game was a classy decision and the absolute right one. It was good of Shanahan to go get his fiance so she could be with him as well....and Yzerman and Drapes...good for them for helping get that strecher out there as soon as possible. That is a scary situation ..thankgod he had good people around him..lets hope Jiri's alright!!

[Rock]

(This from the Detroit Free Press:)

DISBELIEF! Fans stunned as Wing stricken

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...412/1048/SPORTS

November 22, 2005

Email this Print this BY M.L. ELRICK and JIM SCHAEFER

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

Fans expecting to cheer on the Red Wings against the Nashville Predators at the Joe Louis Arena on Monday night were stunned as they watched defenseman Jiri Fischer collapse on the bench during the first period, and teammates and medical personnel rush to his aid.

Don Aaron, 70, of West Bloomfield, was sitting in Row 7, Seat 15, right on top of the tunnel where Fischer collapsed.

"We just saw him come off the ice," Aaron said. "It looked like he sat down and he just fell over. A couple of the players saw he was down and threw stuff on the ice to stop play."

Fischer was not moving, Aaron said, and the nearby crowd was in stunned silence: "They couldn't talk. ... This is a game. It's not supposed to be for your life."

Teammates, including Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman, yelled for assistance. When Fischer dropped, he was surrounded by other Wings defensemen.

"He was out cold," said Kevin Duffy, 47, who is from the Philadelphia area and was in town for the holiday. "They started pounding on his chest and that's when Yzerman and all of them started freaking out. ... It was evident that (Fischer) wasn't breathing."

Many in the packed arena weren't sure whether a player had collapsed or whether a fan had fallen over a railing into a tunnel leading to the Wings' locker room.

Rosemarie Green, 35, of Rochester brought her two sons, Cameron and Griffin, to the game to celebrate Cameron's sixth birthday.

"From our seats we could see the doctor doing CPR, which was very scary to us," she said.

Throughout the arena, fans were baffled at the scene unfolding on the ice. Many spoke on their cell phones trying to find out what happened or reporting to others what they knew. Few got through because circuits were jammed.

Just a minute or so after the collapse, most of the Wings bench and the Nashville players headed to the locker room. Yzerman, Shanahan, Kris Draper and Robert Lang stayed on the ice, hovering over their fallen teammate.

At one point as Fischer was being treated, Shanahan and Lang skated to the Zamboni entrance and helped his fiancee, Avery, to his side.

Herman Houin, 48, of Grosse Pointe, who said he is a plastic surgeon at Henry Ford Hospital and was sitting near the Wings bench, said later that he was surprised to hear the public address announcer say Fischer had suffered a seizure. Houin said it looked like a heart problem such as arrhythmia from his vantage point.

"It didn't look like he was breathing," Houin said. "They were breathing for him."

Other witnesses said team personnel had at least three defibrillators near Fischer's side as they worked to revive him.

Yzerman and Shanahan skated a stretcher to the bench, and fans cheered a few minutes after it appeared the crisis was over. But they fell silent after no one was loaded onto the stretcher and it was taken away.

After rescue workers held up what appeared to be a pair of shoulder pads, fans realized a player had been stricken.

Many headed to the concourse after the public address announcer said the ice would be re-surfaced and play would resume in about 15 minutes. One rumor running rampant was that Fischer had taken a puck to the throat and collapsed on the bench.

Shortly after the game was cancelled, Nashville players waited by their bus outside the arena, chatting on cell phones. Around 9:30, a Detroit police car arrived to lead a procession of six luxury cars and SUVs that appeared to be driven by Wings players westbound on Jefferson.

One officer on the scene said he assumed they were headed to the hospital.

[Rock]

(This from the Detroit Free Press:)

Red Wings

Wings' Fischer collapses; his heart stops

Team says defenseman OK after game is halted; fans, players shocked

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...413/1053/SPORTS

November 22, 2005

BY HELENE ST. JAMES

FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

Red Wings defenseman Jiri Fischer suffered a seizure requiring CPR and the use of a defibrillator, halting the Wings' game against Nashville on Monday night. Within 45 minutes, however, he was announced to be doing well and in stable condition.

"His heart had stopped, and there was no pulse," coach Mike Babcock said. "But they hooked up the auto defibrillator, and they shocked him. The heartbeat that leads to death, they got that stopped, and going, and they continued with the CPR.

"It's our understanding that things are fine, and that he is going to be fine. He's stable."

The game was not resumed at Joe Louis Arena, though it will be rescheduled.

Fischer, 25, collapsed on the team bench during the first period while play was continuing on the ice. Steve Yzerman described the moment as unlike anything else he's experienced in his 22-year NHL career.

"Fear," he said. "You see the guy laying there and the doctors doing what they're doing. You fear for the guy's life at that moment."

The game was called off about 9 p.m., less than an hour after Fischer collapsed. Fans were told a new date for the game would be announced within 48 hours. Ten minutes earlier, an announcement had been made that Fischer was OK, and applause filled the air that had fallen to a hush just 45 minutes earlier.

After team trainers and emergency medical technicians spent several minutes attending to Fischer as he lay on the floor by the Wings' bench, he was taken by ambulance to Detroit Receiving Hospital. Team spokesman John Hahn said Fischer was expected to remain hospitalized for two days to undergo tests.

About half of Fischer's teammates visited him at the hospital Monday night.

Fischer "was described as very jovial," Hahn said. "He's in good spirits and doing very well."

The incident began around 8:07 p.m. The Predators had just taken a 1-0 lead at 11:28 of the first period, and play had resumed.

Fischer was seated on the far end of the bench when he fell to the floor, right by the door the Wings use to get on and off the ice. Babcock immediately stepped onto the bench and waved his arm toward the Zamboni entrance, where an ambulance is stationed during games.

Assistant coach Todd McClellan went over to Fischer, and soon handfuls of players gathered around, too. A whistle was blown at 12:30 of the period, halting play.

"What happened basically is, Fisch was out on a shift, he came off, he was standing there with his teammates, or sitting on the bench, and he had a seizure," Babcock said. "He fell forward and then ended up on his side. Right away, as soon as we got aware of what was going on, we got it stopped."

Team doctor Anthony Colucci, who sits directly behind the bench in the stands, immediately jumped down and began administering CPR. Team doctor Douglas Plagens and trainer Piet Van Zant also tended to Fischer.

Wings players gathered nearby, but made sure to stay out of the way.

"Everybody was caught by surprise," Yzerman said. "I'm not sure the players were aware of the circumstances. We turn and see Jiri laying between the boards and the bench and we're really not sure why he's laying there. For us, we were basically helpless to stand there and watch.

"You're just sitting back hoping that this is going to work out all right. You're not really sure of what is going on, what his condition is, or what he is suffering from at that moment, so you're just wondering what is going on."

Defenseman Brett Lebda was the first to start yelling after Fischer fell.

"He saw Jiri lean forward, and I think he was the one that alerted the rest of the team that something was wrong," Brendan Shanahan said. "I stood up and saw Fisch. So I jumped on the ice and I knew -- you can just tell when it's urgent like that.

"I think a couple of us jumped on the ice and started screaming for the referees to blow the whistle, and they were confused."

Nobody expects something like that. The Nashville bench was confused, and they could kind of tell from the reaction on our bench that something was wrong, but they just didn't know what."

Nashville coach Barry Trotz said everyone on his team was concerned after the Predators saw Fischer lying near the bench. Trotz noted that there had been a memorial ceremony Saturday for former Predators player Sergei Zholtok, who died last year during a game in Belarus.

Shanahan and Babcock said Fischer looked fine before the game, though he does have a history of heart problems. Fischer had an abnormal electrocardiogram (EKG) during a physical Sept. 12, 2002, at training camp in Traverse City, but he later passed follow-up tests.

Babcock said reviews of the game tape gave no indication something was wrong Monday night before Fischer collapsed.

"Incidental contact," he said. "Nothing that would seem to lead to something like this."

Though players were relieved to hear the updates, the aftershock lingered in the locker room.

"It was very quiet in there, and everybody wanted to get news as quickly as possible," Shanahan said. "We were trying to get news. We had everyone in management and staff down there. Just the players on the team, and Nashville's team as well, we were all very rattled.

"Jiri has some friends on the Nashville team that he's played with on the national team. I don't think anybody of the players felt it was right to finish the game, and I think Nashville felt the same way. A hockey game shouldn't be played tonight."

After the game was called off, Wings center Robert Lang was seen in the hallway outside the locker room, speaking in Czech to some of the Predators players. Tomas Vokoun, Marek Zidlicky, Martin Erat are all fellow Czechs.

"We were trying to get some updates for our players," Trotz said. "We have some players that are good friends with Jiri Fischer, and the players all know each other. They've become friends from playing over in Europe, world championships, things like that. They were very upset."

Trotz said Yzerman and Shanahan let the Predators know what was going on.

"Obviously a scary situation," Trotz said. "One of the things we wanted to do was clear the ice right away. That was a smart move by the NHL. Detroit came to their locker room through ours so they could make the proper medical procedure happen."

Trotz echoed the Wings when he said playing the game was best saved for another day.

"It was very disturbing to both sides, and I think the NHL recognized it, the players recognized it," Trotz said. "To be quite honest, the game became very secondary."

[BlueSkirt]

regarding the game, won't they handle it like they did in the '88 Final with the Gahhden blackout ?

The game is re-played from the start, and the players get credit for any statisitcs that occurred in the suspended/postponed game.

The Oilers/Bruins game is the precedent.

[ice dog]

unfortunately these heart conditions are quite serious, and insideous.

electrical problems of the heart combined with pro sports and extreme physical stress can eventually lead to death.

the red wing player is lucky this happened in the USA during an NHL game with top notch medical responce.

sergie zholtok had the same thing happen to him in the russian league last year and they were unable to save his life.

Edited November 22, 2005 by Shred

[bostondevil11]

I was talking to my mom (she's a nurse in the ICU and used to be one in the cardiac care unit) about what happened with Fischer and she helped me understand the situation more. She said his heart condition (thicker heart, making it harder to pump the blood) probably wasn't what caused the seizure, but is most likely what caused his heart to stop afterwards. Now hopefully they'll be able to figure out what caused his seizure so it won't happen again, especially in a situation where there aren't medical personnel on hand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wow I was really wonder what made his heart stop. I have had heart problems since birth and really freaked me out. I have never heard of someones heart stoping from a seizure (honestly I really don't know much about them).

Hope Fischer will be ok.

[SueNJ97]

Wow, that was a shock. Speaking as someone with epilepsy, it's just not usual to see a seizure stop someone's heart. Especially the first one they have had. Usually, that sort of thing happens, if it happens, after a series of seizures increase in intensity. That's what happened to Flo-Jo. And there was a case I saw on one of the programs on A&E where a woman went off her medication and "turned herself over to God" and eventually her seizures did get bad enough to stop her heart - and they put her husband on trial for murder. Nobody believed him, they said he smothered her. However, because Fischer had been excercising strenuously and had possible heart problems to begin with, I guess it must have all combined to do it when his brain, and then body, went out of electrical balance.

I really hope they find out what's wrong. First a heart problem, no matter how small, then a grand mal seizure that stops the heart? That's what I call bad medical news.

[John Wensink]

I had the game on, it was disturbing. Especially when it was off the ice.

I rember a few players getting their oribtal bone smashed during play and that just put you on edge, or when that Sabres goalie got his jugular cut. My god that was horrific.

This was just out of nowhere scary. I'm glad to see he looks to be alright.

I wish good health to you Mr. Fischer!