Hershey Bears forward Eriks Mateiko hurriedly rushed off ice after possible skate cut to leg

"Eriks Mateiko received one of the biggest honors of his career last week when he was named to Latvia's Olympic hockey team. Days later, though, Mateiko suffered a scary injury during Hershey's 3-2 overtime loss Sunday to the Cleveland Monsters, and it's unclear if it will impact his trip to Italy in February. The Capitals prospect was injured and helped off the ice with 11:19 remaining in the second period after having an incident along the sideboards with Monsters defenseman Corson Ceulmans."

"As Mateiko guarded Ceulmans as the latter entered the offensive zone, the Bears forward collapsed in pain as he turned away from the sideboards. The Hershey telecast - and Monsters players- initially thought Mateiko had lost a skate blade in his right boot, but play was quickly whistled dead when an official noticed that the Latvian forward was writhing in pain as he struggled crawling back to the Hershey bench."

"The official made multiple urgent hand motions toward Hershey's bench, asking for the team's head athletic trainer, Shawn Fliszar, to come onto the ice. Mateiko was then quickly helped off, where the bottom of his right leg was cradled and not touching the ice. Ilya Protas and an official then scraped a patch of ice at the blue line afterward, suggesting Mateiko was cut in the leg by a skate blade."

Eriks Mateiko was named to Latvia's Olympic hockey team and suffered a lower-body injury during Hershey's 3-2 overtime loss to the Cleveland Monsters. The injury occurred with 11:19 remaining in the second period after an incident along the sideboards with Monsters defenseman Corson Ceulmans. Mateiko collapsed in pain, turned away from the boards, and crawled back to the Hershey bench while writhing. An official urgently signaled for Hershey's head athletic trainer Shawn Fliszar; Mateiko was helped off the ice with the bottom of his right leg cradled and not touching the ice. A scraped patch of ice suggested a skate blade cut. Mateiko was ruled out for the remainder of the game and the severity remains unclear.

Read at RMNB