Former NHL forward Richard Zednik is an ambassador for hockey in his native Slovakia. He was in Námestovo on Sunday, skating with youth players inside a rink that opened last November, when something absolutely catastrophic and quite horrific occurred.
Ice pieces began to fall from the roof as the training session was ongoing. With Zednik and the children cleared from rink, the roof of the skating facility collapsed under the weight of ice and snow. The collapse happens around 33 seconds into the following clip, via Live Leak:
That part of the video where it looked like someone was traveling down a large tunnel? That was the roof covering the boards and the stands in the rink. And yet no one was injured, according to several reports.
Via Sport.cz (translated):
"Parents have noticed that the ceiling began to fall kind of frost, so quickly summoned the children to get them out of the ice surface. Then there was cracking and literally a few seconds the hall ceiling collapsed completely," quoted the Slovak site webnoviny.sk sports editor TV Oravia Brno Thomas, who witnessed the event.
According to CT 24 news, the cause of the collapse is under investigation.
Zednik played 13 seasons in the NHL with teams like the Montreal Canadiens, Washington Capitals and New York Islanders. He's perhaps best known for having survived a skate slash to the throat in 2008 while playing for the Florida Panthers. It's good to see his luck hasn't yet run out.
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