Weird Hockey Injuries

Reports once suggest Evgeni Malkin missed a hockey game due to a bad sunburn, though the team is said they rested him due to a nagging shoulder injury.

Let's just assume it was the sunburn that kept him out of the game, just for funsies. It would not be the only weird injury in the history of hockey. Let's take a look at some others:

Manny Legace

St. Louis goalie Manny Legace suffered a hip injury after stepping on the red carpet placed on the ice for vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who dropped the puck for the ceremonial face-off.

Earlier this season Legace's teammate Erik Johnson tore both his MCL and ACL in his right knee while horsing around on a golf cart. Johnson is expected to miss the entire season.

They say things happen in threes. If I played for the Blues I would be treading very carefully for a while!

Here's a look at some more weird hockey injuries.

Mikael Renberg While with the Maple Leafs Renberg acquired a blister on his hand from tying his skate laces.

No big deal, right? Well later the blister became infected and soon Renberg was seriously ill and hospitalized with a dangerously high fever. Doctors were able to treat the infection and normailize his temperature. Doctors later revealed that if the treatments were unsuccessful they were seriously considering amputating his hand in order to save his life.

Mikael Renberg, part two A year before the blister incident, Renberg fell out of boat in northern Sweden while sailing with his father. Mikael was trying to pull up the anchor when he slipped and fell into the water. The propeller blade struck his right arm and sliced his bicep muscle.

Fortunately the propeller did not sever any nerves and any damage was not permanent.

Brian Leetch With his skates on, Brian Leetch was one of the most elegant people on ice.

Take his skates off, and not so much.

Leetch broke his ankle while slipping on an icy sidewalk. Leetch was stepping out of a taxi outside of his Manhattan home.

Brent Sopel Sopel missed Vancouver's playoff opening game against Dallas after suffering back spasms at home when he bent down to pick up a cracker dropped by his daughter.

Terry Sawchuk

This one was weird, but also fatal.

The great Sawchuk died after a fight at home with teammate Ron Stewart. Somehow, and the details of the incident have never been clear, Sawchuk fell over a barbecue grill and impaled himself.

Doug Wickenheiser

Wickenheiser most of the 1984-85 season and half of the 1985-86 season with complete tears of ACL and MCL in left knee, an injury suffered when he was hit by a car.

Getting it hit by a car is not incredibly unusual, although how it happened was. The Blues were on a team "snipe hunt" hazing, where unsuspecting prank victims Gilbert Delorme and Kevin Lavallee were to be arrested and put in jail, while the rest of team would let the sit and worry and go out for pizza.

As they left the pizza place, several Blues players climbed into a pickup truck. Wickenheiser fell off of the truck and into an oncoming car, which fortunately was only going 15 mph.

Wade Belak

Believe it or not, the big hulking tough guy missed a game with a spider bite. His ankle swelled up and he could not get his skate on.

Rich Parent

Al MacInnis had perhaps the hardest slap shot of all time. And he didn't let up on his goalies, not even right before a game.

In a pre-game warmup just minutes before the puck was to drop against the Edmonton Oilers in 1999, MacInnis unleashed a howitzer that hit goalie St. Louis goalie Rich Parent in precisely the exactly the place. The protect cup broke and Parent underwent emergency surgery after suffering a “scrotal contusion and ruptured testicle.”

He missed 11 games. Oh and the answer is yes. He did have kids.

John Vanbiesbrouck

It is summer time, 1988. John Vanbiesbrouck is undoubtedly enjoying his summer. He was just named as the NHL's top goaltender and the NHL all star team just days earlier.

Then he was faced with the prospects of a career threatening injury that occurred in his own living room.

Beezer was sitting on a glass coffee table playing with his new video camera. The glass gave way. Naturally VBK put his arm back to break the fall, but ended up slicing his left wrist, lacerating three tendons and suffering nerve damage.

Luckily for Vanbiesbrouck and the Rangers the injury was not as severe as doctors first worried. He recovered fully and was in the line up on opening night.

Glenn Healy

If you've ever seen Glenn Healy on broadcast television, you know he's full of hot air.

That works well for Healy, as his passion outside of hockey is playing the bagpipes.

Unfortunately for Heals he once suffered a deep cut to his hand while cleaning his musical instrument.

The accident happened in the summer time, so Healy did not miss any time between the pipes because of his pipes.

Claude Giroux

Claude Giroux sustained tendon damage when a golf club shattered and splintered into his finger Thursday. It's unknown what caused the club to shatter.

By the way, there is no shortage of weird injuries in other sports. From Sammy Sosa's big sneeze to a NBA player suffering tendinitis from excessive video game playing, hockey does not have as many weird injuries as other sports. Google weird sports injuries sometime for a good laugh.