Scary injury in VHL made worse by incompetent medical staff

No matter where you are or what league you play in, playoff hockey is a different beast. The intensity rises, physicality ramps up, and the players play hard. Unfortunately for Kirill Krutov, he left yesterday's game on a stretcher.

Playoff hockey is a beautiful thing, but some players get caught up in the moment and take things too far. This was the case during the VHL finals yesterday.

Neftyanik Almetievs player Kirill Krutov needed to be stretchered off the ice after this absolutely vicious hit from AKM's Pavel Medvedev.




Unfortunately for Krutov, the medics seemed to have next to no training. Rather than collapsing the stretcher, they used what looks suspiciously like a body bag to lift him and place him on a stretcher. Apparently stabilizing the spine isn't a thing in Russia. Who knew?


The good news for Krutov and Neftyanik Almetievs is that they were able to win the game, securing the Petrov Cup as VHL Champions.

Leafs goaltending prospect Artur Akhtyamov was awarded finals MVP honours. Of course, at this point, Krutiv's health is the priority. Hopefully having won a championship will help keep his spirits up while he's on the mend.