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Drew Miller needed nearly 60 stitches after skate to face, wants to play Thursday

Sean Leahy
·Contributing writer

Drew Miller is a lucky, lucky man. The Detroit Red Wings forward stepped onto the Joe Louis Arena ice Wednesday morning sporting a cage, hiding the nastiness that lie underneath.

Tuesday night against Ottawa, Miller took a Mark Stone skate to the face and needed 50-60 stitches to close up the gash.

Here’s what Miller looked like Wednesday morning:

Miller, who wears a visor, said the contact was so hard that he initially felt like he’d lost his eye. Somehow, there’s a chance he’ll be back in the Detroit lineup Thursday night against the Boston Bruins. He still, however, needs to be cleared by doctors, and added that his vision is fine.

If you think Miller wanting to play two days after this freak incident is crazy, in true hockey player fashion, he actuallywanted to return for the third period against the Senators.

Via Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press:

"It took a while to get stitched up, I was back there for a while, but all the doctors came to the conclusion -- and my wife -- that I probably shouldn't go back out, just for the sake of not ripping the stitches. It was pretty deep, too, in the cheek area, so just let my body rest and not go back out there with whatever emotional drain I had from it."

It's amazing these types of incidents don't happen more often given that the players are skating around with knives on their feet.

"Someone was looking over me on the ice, I guess, because I don't know how it missed my eye," he said.

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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