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Pronger on his memories of what happened to him

“It brought back some memories,” said Pronger, the 48-year-old Hall of Fame hockey player. And some things he hadn’t remembered.

When Pronger woke up Tuesday morning, he went into his personal film library and pulled out the video of the night he collapsed on the ice in Detroit — when he took a slapshot to the chest — lost consciousness during a Stanley Cup playoff game, needed to have his heart revived all in a matter of seconds that he still isn’t completely clear about.

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“I saw some things watching that I didn’t remember,” said Pronger on the phone. “A couple of things are emblazed in my head. I remember blocking a shot. I remember feeling the jolt of the puck hitting my heart and the incredible pain involved with that. I don’t remember much more than that.

“I’m in Detroit. I’m lying on the ice and in my head, I’m telling myself to ‘Get up, get up.’ You can’t let them see you like this. That’s what I’m thinking. And by that point, I’d already blacked out.

“The next thing I knew I woke up, you’re just coming to, my jersey was cut off, I wasn’t aware of much, some of my equipment was off, I’m looking up at the retired jersey banners and I don’t know what to think. I glanced over to the bench and players were crying, Hully (Brett Hull) was crying. At that moment, no one knows what’s going to happen. I think it speaks to the magnitude of the situation. Yes, it’s a game, those Red Wings would go to win the Cup that year. There was a lot of bad blood between those teams. A lot of hatred and dislike between those teams. But at that moment, there’s a little bit of humanity and understanding of what could have happened. And I’m thinking about my pride. You want to get up, but you can’t.

“I got to the hospital and they monitored me to see if my heart was going to do anything odd,” said Pronger. “And then I flew home the next afternoon.” He was given a heart monitor to wear for 24 hours. He was given some treadmill exercises to do in front of his physician. “I went home and prepared like I was going to play the next game.

“I went to the doctor’s office at noon. She did a few more tests. They took the monitor off at 24 hours and looked at the results. She said I could play if I wanted to … I got hurt in Game 2 in Detroit and actually played Game 3 in St. Louis.”

https://torontosun.com/sports/hockey...n-circumstance