Adam Burish's Sliced-Neck Scare

Of any Blackhawk, right winger Adam Burish is perhaps the biggest instigator. He fulfills that classic hockey player role -- he's never afraid to mix it up, to get injured, to throw his body at a problem, or take of his gloves and throw down in the name of some byzantine hockey insult. He's a fantastic player to have on your favorite hockey team.

If there's one thing in common to these sorts of players, it's their unflinching reaction in the face of possible injury. These are the same guys that throw themeslves eye-level with an oncoming slapshot and do nothing to cover their faces. It's practically insane.

But even Burish had to be scared of what almost happened to him yesterday, thanks to a wayward skate from teammate Johnny Eager. See video here. (Be warned: it's not for the squeamish.) Yes, Burish caught a skate right under his throat; it seemed to hit him at the perfect, violent angle, the one destined to lead to blood all over the ice and paramedics rushing on and a hospital visit and maybe worse. We've seen it before in hockey, like last's years Richard Zednik injury, in which a skate split Zednik's throat wide open and Zednik struggled for his life. (Be doubled warned: not for the sqeamish at all.) Burish's encounter, for a split second, looked to be just as bad.

Except it wasn't. Burish skated away, checked his neck, and seemed fine. Camera close-ups showed a sort of a rubbed-in scar, almost as if a dull blade had been dragged across his neck beard. It could have been a lot, lot worse. Luckily for Burish, the Blackhawks, and anyone who has an interest in not seeing a hockey player gush blood from his major arteries, it wasn't.

Eamonn Brennan is a Chicago-based writer, editor and blogger. You can also read him at Yahoo! Sports, Mouthpiece Sports Blog, and Inside The Hall, or at his personal site, eamonnbrennan.com. Follow him on Twitter.