Please stop the game

Imagine a sharp blade slicing through the skin of your throat. The blood quickly soaking the floor. No, I am not talking about scenes from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I am referring to Florida Panthers' forward Richard Zednik.

On Sunday night, Zednik was struck in the neck by teammate Olli Jokinen's skate late in the third period of a game versus the Buffalo Sabres. Zednik was circling around the net when Sabre Clarke MacArthur checked Jokinen. Jokinen fell to the ice headfirst, with his skate flying through the air where it struck Zednik in the throat.

Zednik grabbed for his throat instantly and skated straight to the bench under his own power, leaving a trail of blood on the ice from where the incident happened. The game was delayed for 15 minutes while the crew was cleaning the blood off of the ice.

I have to give respect to the Sabres fans. They acted appropriately and handled the situation with class. During the stoppage, there was silence in the arena until the public address announcer said that Zednik was in stable condition and was being taken to a hospital.

The most glaring look of all was to watch the players and coaches on the bench. All of them were in shock at what they just witnessed. There was a blank stare in the eyes of many of the players as they couldn't even look up at the ice.

This is where the National Hockey League should have stepped in and cancelled the remainder of the game. Even though the score was only 4-3 when the incident occurred, going through the motions of playing hockey is not what players and fans wanted to do nor see.

Playing hockey was the farthest thought from the players and coaches minds. They just witnessed one of their companions suffer a life-threatening injury and now had to continue the game that they are paid to play. That is insane.

"We shouldn't have finished the game," Jokinen said in an interview after the game. "I saw the replay, that it was my skate that hit him in the throat. I think we were all in shock. I've never seen anything like that. There are bigger things than (finishing the game). It was terrifying."

For a league that is lacking strong television ratings and a huge fan base, this could have been an opportunity to show how much the league actually cares for its players. Instead, the league offices, located in Toronto just an hour away, decided to finish the game. In essence, they said, "Who cares about how the players are feeling after this incident? They now know he is fine and can play the game, so let's continue."

The remainder of the game lacked any intensity and very little flow and rhythm. As a fan, you can tell nobody really wanted to lace up the skates and be out there after witnessing such a horrific scene.

In 2005, a game between the Detroit Red Wings and Nashville Predators was stopped with 7:30 left in the third period when Red Wings defenseman Jiri Fischer had a seizure close to the bench. If that game was cancelled, Sunday's game should have been, too.

The severity of the injury was similar in both situations. Just because Zednik was conscious and was only wounded doesn't make his accident any less serious. Since they were both life-threatening, the game should have been called.

We later found out that Zednik needed 60 stitches to close his carotid artery. He lost lots of blood and thankfully he made it to the hospital in time.

I highly doubt the Florida Panthers organization would have been upset if the game were cancelled right after the injury. All they want is for Zednik to be healthy and be able to live his daily life. Players and coaches even said after the game that they thought playing was a bad idea after what had happened.

I don't understand how the league continued the game. Sometimes I really wonder if they care about how the players feel, or are just trying to sell a product that isn't doing well right now.

This situation should have been dealt with differently for the sake of the Zednik family, his teammates, and the league. The National Hockey League should feel disgraced for its lack of judgment and poor behavior at the end of this game.