First off our thought and prayers go out to Jack "Jabby" Jablonski, this is an unfortunate event that you never want to see happen to anyone.
Dan Browning, Star Tribune --- Known as "Jabby" to his friends, the 16-year-old honors student, hockey forward and varsity tennis player at Benilde-St. Margaret's scored the first goal of what would be a victory for the junior varsity Red Knights against Wayzata during the Holiday Hockey Classic tournament at the St. Louis Park Recreation Center.
Jack's team was up by one goal 5 minutes, 48 seconds into the second period when he made a dash for the puck near the end boards with two Wayzata players in hot pursuit, said Chris McGowan, the Red Knights' JV coach.
McGowan said two players rammed Jablonski from behind, smashing him into the boards, and he collapsed motionless to the ice.
Jack is in critical condition with two fractured bones in his lower neck. He's unable to move his legs and has only slight movement in his hands and fingers, McGowan said.
Almost nightly in the NHL and in college you see dangerous hits like this. We don't need to see these avoidable, unnecessary and tragic hits in any level of hockey. This is why hockey needs to harshly penalize these kinds of hits. We also must teach the players coming through the ranks that if you see numbers you can not hit a person from behind.We can only hope that this 16 year old kid can make a full recovery and go on to lead a normal life.
