STARS OUTRAGED AFTER MODANO INJURY
Sunday, October 3
ESPN
Associated Press
DALLAS -- Dallas Stars center Mike Modano, who
suffered a mild concussion, broken nose and strained
neck ligaments when hit from behind into the boards
by Anaheim defenseman Ruslan Salei, is out of action
indefinitely.
Modano was taken off the ice on a stretcher Saturday and
transported to Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, where
X-rays, CAT scans and an MRI on his neck were all
negative. He was held overnight for observation and
released Sunday.
Modano, who was injured in the second period, will be
evaluated in the next three to five days but won't
play in Detroit on Tuesday, the team said.
Neither will defenseman Darryl Sydor, who suffered a
fractured left eye socket in the third period as a
result of a fight with Anaheim's Jim McKenzie. Sydor
is also out for an unknown period of time, the Stars
said.
That injury occurred when Sydor came to the aid of
No. 2 center Joe Nieuwendyk, who was checked hard
into the end boards by Mighty Ducks defenseman Pascal
Trepanier. Nieuwendyk wasn't seriously injured and
returned to the game.
Trepanier received a major for boarding and a game
misconduct at 7:51 of the third period.
Both Salei and McKenzie were given five-minute major
penalties. Salei was also given a game misconduct and
McKenzie was given a double-game misconduct. The
Stars went on to beat Anaheim 2-to-1.
The game tape and a medical report were being sent to
the NHL for review, Stars officials said.
"I think those two players (Salei and Trepanier) are
either the stupidest people in this league or they
just brought themselves a hell of a war," said Stars
coach Ken Hitchcock. The two teams meet again Friday
in Anaheim.
"These were reckless plays and cheap shots," he said.
Brett Hull, Modano's linemate, said the No. 1 concern
of NHL players is that sooner or later someone is
going to get seriously hurt or killed on the type of
hit Modano suffered.
"It's disgustingly cheap to have a guy in such a
vulnerable position, and to just take advantage of
firing him headfirst into the boards is worse than
cowardly," Hull said.
"It's time for the powers-that-be in the NHL to put
their foot down. ... It's time for them to sit up and
make a lesson of (Salei)."
Salei said he had no intention of hurting Modano, who
led the Stars in regular-season scoring with 81
points and playoff scoring with 23.
"I hope he's going to be fine," said Salei, who
received a five-game suspension last season for
slew-footing Phoenix's Daniel Briere. "I barely
touched him. He was going fast and I tried to catch
him. Maybe I touched him, but I don't think I hit him
from behind or really pushed him."