I have never been as proud to be a Western New York native than I have in the past year at what has been done to save the lives of athletes injured during the course of play. What was done for Bills tight end Kevin Everett, who may never play football again but walks today because of the immediate care he received, and Florida Panthers forward Richard Zednik by Buffalo’s medical professionals is nothing short of amazing, nothing less than a miracle.

In case you hadn’t heard, Zednik has his carotid artery nearly severed by a teammate in a freak accident during the third period of Sunday’s game against the Sabres in Buffalo. Doctors estimate that Zednik lost as much as a half gallon of blood in the accident. The carotid artery transports blood to your brain. Doctors say teammate Olli Jokinen’s skate blade just missed Zednik’s jugular vein.

Zednik underwent emergency vascular surgery to reconnect the artery, which was clamped for 15 to 20 minutes during the surgery.

Today, Zednik was listed as “stable,” “awake” and “oriented” in the ICU at Buffalo General Hospital and showing no initial signs of brain damage. Attending surgeon Sonya Noor described Zednik’s condition, physical and otherwise, as “very good.” Not bad for a guy who somehow managed to skate three-quarters of the way to the bench with a cut throat before falling limp into teammates’ arms.

The 32-year-old forward from Bystrica, Slovakia is expected to recover, suffer no brain damage and maybe suffer “a little hoarseness” somewhere down the road. Wow. Do you believe in miracles?

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