Rich Peverley is a healthy, 31-year-old professional athlete. As a member of the NHL's Dallas Stars and in his tenth NHL season, one would believe he would be the least at risk for an ailment generally connected to age and health.
On Monday night in Dallas, the forward and his team would be met with a worst case scenario situation. Peverley would collapse on the bench and be rushed into the hallway out of sight from fans, teammates and opponents.
He would need chest compressions and to be defibrillated by medical staff to get his heart rate back.
This sounds like a freak accident, something that only happens to "unlucky" people. That's not the case.
In 2005, Detroit Red Wings defenseman Jiri Fischer collapsed on the bench in the first period between the Red Wings and Nashville Predators. Fischer suffered a seizure and was given CPR on the bench as well as defibrillation.
Brendan Shanahan was on the bench when Fischer collapsed, he recalls chaos, "Before I even knew which one of my teammates was down on the bench, Tony [Colucci] was already on top of him giving him chest compressions," Shanahan told The Province. "There was a lot of yelling and screaming and the one guy that wasn't confused was our team doctor, who was on top of him performing CPR."
The move to make emergency medical care instant and accessible is credit to Detroit's team doctor Tony Colucci. Not only did he push for defibrillators in every NHL rink, he pushed for doctors to be closer, ambulances to be at the ready and emergency protocol in place. Not just for players, but also for spectators.
"Tony Colucci, who saved my life along with the rest of our medical staff, he was really pushing every meeting that they had with NHL doctors," Fischer told ESPN.
"...they talked about the accessibility of an ambulance, they talked about how doctors need to be close, they talked about how a defibrillator needs to be part of the standard equipment for every locker room in every rink, they talked about how the whole protocol of resuscitation should go before somebody gets into the hospital. That's not just for the players but for anybody in the stands."
An abnormality was revealed to Fischer in 2002 by means of an electrocardiogram, which showed his heart was thicker than normal. At the time, Fischer said, "It’s nothing that will bother me emotionally. I wasn't scared about the abnormality. But I was scared about not playing hockey again. That was a shock for me."
An incident like this in the NHL brings awareness to the subject. Without the collapse and near-death of Fischer, Peverley would not have been so lucky.
Alexei Cherepanov wasn't lucky enough to have medical staff with the right equipment or emergency protocol in place to save his life. He was 19 when he collapsed on the bench in Russia.
In 2008, Cherepanov was the victim of an unprepared medical team. The ambulance that accompanies all KHL games had been called away and was no longer at the facility during the third period when Cherepanov collapsed.
Doctors tried to revive the 19-year-old but were unsuccessful after arriving on the scene 12 minutes after he collapsed.
Cherepanov reportedly took performance enhancing drugs for months prior to his death until it was later discovered the medication he was taking was for his heart condition called myocarditis.
Although the team says they had no idea about Cherepanov's condition, they still failed to provide life-saving equipment in the event of an emergency. Russia's federal investigative committee released a statement saying, "A row of gross violations was committed by the medical brigade helping A. Cherepanov."
The statement from the Russian federal investigative committee also mentioned the battery in the defibrillator was drained.
Cherepanov's KHL team, Avangard Omsk, suspended their president and general manager indefinitely from KHL positions. Their team doctor was suspended for two years.
As a Rangers prospect, this incident coupled with Fischer's three years prior put in mandatory emergency medical care. Defibrillators are at all NHL facilities in case something as dire as a heart stopping would occur.
NHL veteran Jaromir Jagr was sitting next to Cherepanov on the bench when he collapsed. "It was pretty strange. When he collapses next to you you don’t think it can end like that. We finished the game and didn’t really know what happened. They couldn't keep him alive."
Jagr was teammates with Peverley in Boston. When he heard the news, he flashed back to Cherepanov and told reporters, "I think the trainers and the doctors did a great job and probably saved his life. Back in Russia, they weren't ready for that."
Fischer may have been the first the NHL had to deal with, and Cherepanov is an unfortunate victim of circumstances, but Peverley can credit Colucci for pushing emergency medical care.
