April 27, 2010

He Felt His Teeth Shatter: Eric Belanger of the Washington Capitals defines "never give up" attitude by getting hit in the face, losing several teeth (including pulling one out with his bare hands), and returning to the ice to finish out the game (via MetaFilter).

posted by rcade to hockey at 11:58 AM - 8 comments

I don't really understand this about hockey. Is he going to go through the rest of his life without teeth? Why don't they have helmets like football players? Do young hockey players lose their teeth, too, (like high school age and below)?

Sorry, I'm from pre-hockey Florida.

posted by bperk at 12:13 PM on April 27, 2010

A full cage is required in Highschool and I also think in college.

posted by Debo270 at 12:17 PM on April 27, 2010

Explains Belanger: "I knew I was in trouble, but what are you going to do? It's the playoffs."

Another reason why the NHL playoffs are f*cking AWESOME.

posted by grum@work at 12:36 PM on April 27, 2010

Why do people post sports stories to Metafilter?

posted by yerfatma at 12:38 PM on April 27, 2010

I'm not even going to read about this. I have a Martin Amis level tooth paranoia already just thinking about it.

posted by JJ at 01:01 PM on April 27, 2010

I hope he was able to collect the teeth. He could supplement his hockey earnings with visits from the Tooth Fairy. In all seriousness, he displays the true hockey attitude: Are you breathing? Do you see less than 3 pucks on the ice? Can you skate? If you can answer yes to at least 2 of these questions, then stop the bleeding and get back on the ice.

posted by Howard_T at 06:52 PM on April 27, 2010

I prefer (NFL) football over all other sports, but the playoffs in the NHL are still tops in major sports. And hockey players have to be some of the toughest dudes on earth, eh (sorry, couldn't help myeslf).

posted by Tigginator at 09:13 PM on April 27, 2010

No biggie. Happens. It's the playoffs.

I don't really understand this about hockey. Is he going to go through the rest of his life without teeth? Why don't they have helmets like football players? Do young hockey players lose their teeth, too, (like high school age and below)?

No, he's going to go through the rest of his life with fake teeth.

Full cages are like weapons out there on these guys. That and you're not a man, until you take a puck to the face.

Yes. But most manage to escape with none or maybe one. High sticks can take their share of teeth too.

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 12:40 AM on April 28, 2010

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