Red Wings Drew Miller Feared He Lost an Eye, but Doesn’t Want to Miss a Game

By Jeff Pini

April 2, 2015

2 minutes to read

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Detroit Red Wings forward Drew Miller feared he had lost an eye on Tuesday night. A day later, he was talking about getting back on the ice.

After a first period faceoff in the Red Wings’ zone, Ottawa’s Mark Stone was upended with Miller directly behind him. Stone’s skate blade caught Miller below his right eye, slicing Miller’s face. Fearing the worst and leaving a trail of blood behind him, the Detroit forward immediately skated off the ice.

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[fragment number=2]Miller required approximately 60 stitches to close two lacerations on his face, but avoided damage to his eye.

“I think right away you think, ‘Man, I lost my eye. My hockey career is over. My life is going to be totally different with losing an eye.’ But thank God it was quickly that I found it wasn’t bad,’’ Miller told reporters on Wednesday.

“It hit so hard … there was so much blood that I wasn’t sure if it had clipped my eyeball or what had happened. I wasn’t sure,’’ Miller added, via the Red Wings’ official website. “I definitely feel very blessed that the skate didn’t hit my eye. I was very lucky. Right now it’s just dealing with the cut, the stitches and the soreness. Other than that my eye’s good and I got on the ice today and felt pretty good.’’

Back at practice on Wednesday, he was wearing an extra plastic guard along with his usual visor to protect his face.[fragment number=3]

Speaking with the media after practice, Miller noted that he had initially wanted to return to the game once had received medical attention.

“I wanted to come back in for the third,’’ he told reporters. “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, that just to kind of let my body rest and not go back out there with whatever shock or emotional drain I had from it.’’

Miller also stated that if everything checks out with doctors, he would like to be in the lineup for Thursday’s game against the Bruins.

“I would like to play [Thursday],’’ he said. “I think we have to talk to some more doctors and see how my face reacts for the next 24 hours to see if the swelling gets worse.’’