Blake Geoffrion Lucky to be Alive After Hit

Blake GeoffrionBlake Geoffrion was on the receiving end of a huge hit from Jean-Philippe Cote last Friday night when Geoffrion’s Hamilton Bulldogs faced off against the Syracuse Crunch. While the hit was clean, Geoffrion had his head down and was in a very vulnerable position. The hit sent him flying into the air, and then crashing to the ice.

Unfortunately, as Geoffrion landed, his head hit Cote’s skate. In fact, the bone two inches above the 24-year-old Geoffrion’s left ear was the main point of impact, leading to a fractured skull. Geoffrion was bleeding as he left the ice, and was quickly rushed to a Montreal hospital where he had emergency surgery.

“They removed the piece of his skull that was about the size of a silver dollar,” said Danny Geoffrion, Blake’s father and former NHL player. “They had to replace that with titanium and metal mesh. And that’s what the plate consists of, with the screws and all that, so he now has that in his head. It was unreal,” he added.

Everything was seemingly fine with Blake as he was on his way to the hospital, he was awake and in good spirits. Shortly after his parents signed off on surgery, however, Blake began having convulsions.

“Parts of the skull had gotten into the brain,” Danny said. “So they cleaned all that out, and took care of the little bleeding he did have, which was another major thing. He was very, very lucky.”

Thanks to a great team of doctors, Blake is doing well and recovering in Montreal. “We’re lucky that he’s alive,” Danny said.

His future in hockey remains uncertain, though. He has a history of concussions, and of course this surgery will complicate things further. The most important thing to consider will be quality of life after hockey, but that bridge will be crossed after Blake has fully recovered from Surgery.

For those who have not seen, video of the hit on Blake Geoffrion can be seen below.

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