Hockey announcer becomes emergency linesman after nasty accident, concussion

[doniceage]

It’s Stephen White’s job to call the action as a hockey announcer for ATC Productions, which covers the Australian Ice Hockey League.
Little did he know he would be calling it in a dramatically different way when an on-ice official was accidentally injured.
In the first period of a game between the Newcastle North Stars and Melbourne Ice on Sunday, linesman Casper Russelhuber was crunched by two players, receiving an accidental spin-kick from Chris Frank of the Ice that lacerated his index finger.
Along with the sliced digit, he suffered a mild concussion. You can see the injury at the 53-second mark here:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...152701563.html

[TheBoxBreaker]

Very unfortunate incident, but it's also a weird story how the commentator suddenly had to be a referee in the game. Bet he didn't see that coming, eh? I'm a bit surprised by the level of play in the AIHL; I didn't expect that from Australian hockey.

[centrehice]

Very unfortunate incident, but it's also a weird story how the commentator suddenly had to be a referee in the game. Bet he didn't see that coming, eh? I'm a bit surprised by the level of play in the AIHL; I didn't expect that from Australian hockey.

I played one season of Hockey in Australia in that founding league in Melbourne. The league at that time in 1981 was full of ex-juniors and pick-up players from Canada, that like myself had played all their lives. The level of skill was very good indeed.

[TheBoxBreaker]

I played one season of Hockey in Australia in that founding league in Melbourne. The league at that time in 1981 was full of ex-juniors and pick-up players from Canada, that like myself had played all their lives. The level of skill was very good indeed.

Very interesting story, buddy. If you ever write a thread about this, I'd love to read it. With that being said it would actually be a lot of fun to see how many members on SCF have played professional hockey before. Is the AIHL defined as being professional, semi-professional or amateur?

[centrehice]

It was not Pro when I played in Melbourne. We all had to pay our own way to play in this league. Perhaps not now. I have not been back to OZ in 20 years, so I don't know what the AHA has done since. It was all strictly amateur in the early 80's, as there were not many rinks - anywhere.

[hossa18sens]

I just got a picture in my head of Bob Cole or Harry Neale getting called into action lol