from Thomas Drance of Sportsnet,

It was the first time that Hamhuis had addressed the media since being struck by Boyle’s errant slap shot and the veteran Vancouver Canucks blue-liner was forthright about the gruesome ordeal.

He spoke about how he knew he was really in trouble when he began to trace the roof of his mouth with his tongue, and instead of finding a loose tooth or two, found mush. That’s when he got a bit woozy.

“It’s an unfortunate part of the game,” Hamhuis said of the incident, “but those types of injuries happen. I was real fortunate to have the medical staff that we do on the ice, as I went into the dressing room and right through to the hospital. I couldn’t have asked for better care.”

Hamhuis was rushed to hospital following the incident and he underwent a significant surgical procedure the next day. There’s more work to be done in a couple weeks, after the brace is removed.

“We haven’t really seen what’s going on underneath the bracing,” Hamhuis told reporters. “(There’s) a lot of fractures a lot of breaks in there.

“The doctors were able to put it together quite nicely in the surgery, and then I went through a period where the jaw was wired for a little which made it difficult to eat, which certainly had its challenges especially through Christmas.”

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