Heward Treated for Nasty Gash
Defenseman Doing Better Than Expected After Face Is Cut

By Tarik El-Bashir
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 2, 2006

For about three minutes Thursday night, Jamie Heward feared the worst.

"It's almost like it happened in slow motion," the Washington Capitals defenseman said yesterday. "But I couldn't get out of the way because it was happening in real time. It just came across my face."

The "it" Heward was referring to was Mike Modano's skate blade, which had inadvertently come up during a tussle for the puck along the boards and opened a gash that extended from the bridge of Heward's nose to his left cheek, just below his eye.

"I couldn't see out of my eye at all because of blood and splatter had gotten in there," said Heward, who was not wearing a visor. "I could see with my right eye that skin was hanging. That scared me the most because I thought I had been hit in my other eye."

Heward immediately dropped to his knees and then raced for the bench. By the time head trainer Greg Smith met him on the ice, Heward's face was a bloody mess.

"I almost fainted," goaltender Olie Kolzig said after practice at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. "It was disgusting. I looked at him, at his face, it was unnerving."

Heward spent the next three hours getting stitched up by Ed Magur, the Capitals' associate team physician. The medical staff decided against transporting Heward to a hospital for fear of infection, Smith said.

Yesterday, Heward was treated by a plastic surgeon for the second time in a year, and the prognosis was better than expected. He had not suffered any nerve damage, and the doctor did not believe any muscle tissue was cut either, Heward said.

The Capitals, who host the Eastern Conference-leading Buffalo Sabres tonight, have upgraded Heward's status from out indefinitely to week-to-week.

"Our medical team did a fabulous job last night," General Manager George McPhee said. "Jamie will get some more work done here over the next few days and he should be fine. We'll give him some time to heal, but he won't be out long."

Heward joked: "My modeling career is in jeopardy."

Last December, Heward suffered a deep cut above the same eye when he was accidentally hit by a teammate's shot during practice. That wound required 17 stitches as well as some attention from a plastic surgeon.

This time it was much more serious, but Heward considers himself a lucky man. Had Modano's skate hit him a half-inch higher, he might have lost his eye. If the blade had penetrated a bit deeper, he might not be able to blink. A smidge lower and he might not be able to smile.

"It could have cut things that are essential to everyday life," Heward said.

Modano called Heward yesterday to express his concern. Although Heward acknowledged that it was accidental, he was still wondering yesterday why Modano lifted his skate so high.

The Stars veteran was facing the boards and battling rookie Mike Green for the puck when he suddenly spun around, lifting his leg into the air. His skate collided with an approaching Heward with 4 minutes 43 seconds remaining in the Capitals' 4-3 victory.

"I don't know," said Heward, who visited with his teammates yesterday morning before practice. "I'm 6-2, and was hunched over to about six feet, and his skate came up six feet up in the air and hit me in the face. I don't know how that happened."

It was the second scary moment for the Capitals in recent weeks. On Nov. 15, team captain Chris Clark lost three teeth and suffered a crushed palate bone when he was hit in the mouth by a puck. He still is playing with a protective face mask.

"It's a lot better than anybody thought," Clark said of Heward. "He got lucky. Hopefully we're done with bad luck."

Heward said he could return to practice on Monday, and plans to do so with a visor -- something he has not worn since his days in junior hockey. But he won't commit to making the visor a permanent fixture on his helmet.

"I hope I get used to it enough to keep it on," Heward said. "I know that even though this has happened to me, and as crazy as it sounds, it's not something I'm going to consider permanent. I'm going to assess how it feels on my face and go from there."