Bulletin: Ruff injured in practice collision, status unknown
Blogs Source:Sabres Edge - February 6 01:36 PM EST
Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff left practice early today in First Niagara Center after taking a scary fall after a collision with defenseman Jordan Leopold. Leopold was working in a 1-on-1 drill with Ville Leino and lost his balance, sliding to the ice and barreling into Ruff from behind. Ruff went airbone and landed hard to the ice, letting out a scream as he landed that echoed through the empty arena. Trainers attended to Ruff and he gingerly left the ice after a couple minutes clearly favoring his right leg and his right shoulder. Ruff was unable to hold his daily meeting with reporters and his condition is not "I lost my breath," Leopold said of going to the ice and seeing the impending collision with the NHL's longest-tenured coach. "I was looking back and I kind of yelled, "Are you all right? Are you all right?' Right away, no. That wasn't a good thing. "I know Lindy is a tough guy, played a lot of games in the NHL and played through a lot of injuries. Your body ends up hurting more and more the older you get but that was one of those unexpected ones. Those are dangerous." "To see him in that much pain, he probably has something going on there," added goalie Ryan Miller. "Hopefully we get that sorted out and he's all right. We need him behind the bench yelling and calling the lines. Lindy being a former player, he knew how to take the fall. He took it into his body instead of letting his head whip back or else it could have been really devastating." We are still planning a live chat today at 3. Stay tuned for updates on Ruff's status. ---Mike Harrington
immediately known. Team spokesman Chris Bandura said he did not know if Ruff would be checked at a hospital and said theh club would update his status later today.
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