I woke up from the operation without a stitch of clothing on me, and I’d gone in there fully clothed. Nothing on me, no wires or equipment, no blanket or pillow. I tried to get up, which hurt, and I kind of made a noise. Ten people in the room stopped, looked at me, and then came over in a rush.

Two weeks after that, they let me out of the hospital because I could walk on my own. I went to the rink and started getting ready for practice. In my mind I thought, “I can at least go out there and push pucks and stay involved.” The trainer started freaking out, waving his arms, and I had no idea what he was saying. Finally, one of the managers who spoke English and Croatian came in and told me to back to the hospital. I listened but nobody had told me anything.

We had a sit-down meeting with the operating doctor who told me that I had lost so much blood that during the procedure I flatlined and they couldn’t get me back.

-Jamie Rivers at Slapshot Diaries where you can read more on this story...

Rivers played for six NHL teams during his NHL career