Army hockey player Eric Huss recovering after skate to the neck

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West Point hockey player Eric Huss suffered a severe injury after another player accidentally sliced him in the neck with his ice skate Thursday.

Huss caught an inadvertent skate to the neck in the second period of a game against Sacred Heart in Connecticut. The skate narrowly missed the forward’s carotid artery and hit Huss’s jawbone, preventing the blade from going into his mouth.

The Army team’s trainer Rachel Leahy immediately rushed into ice to control Huss’s bleeding and could be the reason the player survived the terrifying incident, the team believes.

The junior from Dallas, Texas underwent surgery to repair the “severe laceration” to his neck, the team said in a Twitter post along with a photo of the healing Huss giving a thumbs-up.

Despite the scare, the “Warrior” is expected to make a full recovery and returned to West Point Friday.

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“A terrible tragedy was avoided tonight because of the quick action of our trainer and the medical staff that were in the arena tonight. Grateful that our player will be ok because of them,” West Point coach Brian Riley said.

“The level of professionalism and calmness (Leah) displayed while dealing with our players injury was amazing. @ArmyWP_Hockey is thankful for you Rachel!” he said in a subsequent tweet.

The game was paused during Huss’s medical emergency but resumed after he was taken off the ice. West Point lost to the Pioneers, 5-0.

Huss’s injury comes nearly a year after a 16-year-old Connecticut hockey player died from a similar injury.

Teddy Balkind, a 10th grader at the St. Luke’s School in New Canaan, died after he fell onto the ice and another player, unable to stop, collided into him and accidentally slit his neck with a skate.

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