Larry Brown Sports

If you thought the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins were exhausted and in pain after playing well into a third overtime in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, have a look at Dr. Patricia Higgins. Toward the end of regulation on Wednesday night, Johnny Boychuck ripped the puck from center ice into the Bruins’ zone and it was deflected into the stands. From there, it found Higgins’ face.

According to CBS Chicago, Higgins suffered severe lacerations on her forehead and nose and was left with two black eyes. She reportedly underwent successful surgery on Thursday morning and is resting at home, where she is expected to make a full recovery.

To make matters worse, Higgins didn’t even get to keep the puck. It supposedly skipped into the row in front of where she was sitting and was scooped up by another fan.

Players taking pucks to the face is an all-too-common occurrence, but Higgins’ injury is an unfortunate reminder that the same thing can happen to the audience. The protective netting can only do so much. Hopefully Higgins’ experience won’t discourage her from attending games in the future.

Photo via Twitter/FOX 32 News

UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt suffered a fractured right toe during a loss to Junior dos Santos at UFC 160 last month, but a separate injury has been causing him more problems. A broken toe sounds painful, but Hunt has also been dealing with an infected hematoma in his left leg that has required multiple surgeries.

Hunt shared the photo you see above on Twitter over the weekend, which shows how red his left leg had become as a result of the infection. He said at the time that he had just finished surgery and needed “a couple more” surgeries to clean everything up. He later recorded a video that shows the horrible infection up close. If you have a weak stomach, I would not watch this:

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Don’t ever tell Boubacar Barry what it means to go all out. You know nothing about it. The Lokeren goalkeeper gave a new meaning to the phrase “laying it all on the line” on Sunday toward the beginning of a match against Club Brugge.

As you can see from the video above that 101 Great Goals passed along, Barry dove to try to stop a shot in the fifth minute when he collided with the post and was knocked out cold. According to Belgian news site Knack.be, he suffered a concussion but was later released from the hospital following the horrifying injury. His team went on to lose 2-1.

When we think about goalie as being a dangerous position, we’re usually thinking about a person trying to stand in the way of a scorching shot. Unfortunately, Barry reminded us that blocking shots isn’t the only occupational hazard associated with tending the net.

H/T Dirty Tackle

Jon Jones destroyed Chael Sonnen at UFC 159 on Saturday to retain his UFC light heavyweight title, but he did get injured in the process.

Jones won by first-round TKO — the fight was stopped after Jones pummeled Sonnen with elbows — but the champion broke his big toe.

Below is an image of Jones’ toe, and beware — it is graphic:

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Rugby is known for being one of the most physically-taxing sports in the world, and as a result it is played by some of the toughest people. South Africa’s Ernst Joubert, who plays for Saracens, is a prime example of that.

During Saracens’ win over Ulster in the Heineken Cup over the weekend, Joubert suffered one of the most jacked-up broken noses you will ever see. As you can see from the photo above that Dan Roan shared on Twitter, it looked like his nose was completely divided into two. Naturally, he was still in the mood to smile after his team came away with the victory.

We have shown you some pretty messed up broken noses over the years here at LBS, with two of the better examples being here and here. Joubert’s could easily be the gnarliest.

H/T SI Hot Clicks

Hockey skates can be some of the most dangerous pieces of equipment in sports, and unfortunately we are reminded of that several times throughout the course of a season. The latest victim of a hockey skate injury was Eric Wellwood of the AHL’s Adirondack Phantoms, who actually somehow cut his own leg with his skate.

The end result, as you can see, was frightening. According to the Glens Falls Post Star, Wellwood fell into the boards in front of the penalty box on his own and somehow clipped himself with his own skate during a second period penalty kill against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. He immediately skated over to the bench, and one player said his skate was filled with blood. The photo above that teammate Danny Syvret shared on Sunday seems to confirm that.

“I don’t think anyone really saw it,” head coach Terry Murray said. “It was away from the play. In conversation, everyone figures it was an accident that happened to himself. The play was already in the offensive zone and this happened in the neutral zone, so we’re not sure exactly what took place.”

Wellwood reportedly underwent surgery to repair the vascular damage caused by the injury and is scheduled to go under the knife again to repair the tendons. He is likely to miss the remainder of the season.

It doesn’t matter how many scars we see like this and this that are a result of skate-related injuries — they never get easier to look at.

H/T Puck Daddy

Winnipeg Jets defenseman Zach Redmond is lucky to be alive, and he now has a massive scar to remind him of that on a daily basis. In February, Redmond had his femoral artery slashed by a skate during practice and underwent three-hour emergency surgery. The injury occurred during a practice drill in front of the net, and blood reportedly pooled onto the ice as trainers tended to the 24-year-old.

As you might expect, the laceration required a lot of stitches and staples to close. CBS Sports’ Mitch Peacock shared a photo of Redmonds scar on Friday, and it helps give us an idea of just how horrifying the injury must have been.

A massive scar like this might look a bit more alarming since it’s on a player’s head, but Redmond’s injury was no less dangerous. We’re glad to see he has recovered nicely and was able to avoid any serious long-term damage.

H/T Deadspin