Greg Beller's Player Profile:
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=87902
This is posted on the Cottonmouths website:
Friday, Dec. 30, 2011
Columbus Cottonmouths: After return of Greg Beller, John Sullivan now on shelf
By KATHY GIERER
Columbus Cottonmouths center Greg Beller returned to action on Monday after spending weeks watching his teammates play.
Right winger John Sullivan might have the same fate in store.
Both players suffered serious injuries, but that’s where the similarity ends. Beller’s ghastly incident involved a collision between a puck and his jaw. Sullivan’s was more subtle, a concussion on a routine play in practice.
Beller had been a Cottonmouth for 21 minutes when he was lost to the team for six weeks. He’d yet to play a home game, joining the Snakes on the road in Knoxville on Saturday, Nov. 12.
“The guy was 10 feet from me,” Beller said. “He whipped around and shot it. I went down to the ice and covered my face. I knew there had to be some damage. I ran my tongue over my teeth to check for missing teeth. I didn’t lose any, but I found out that there was about an inch difference between the teeth in the two parts of my jaw. I knew the jaw was probably broken, so I skated off the ice quickly.”
At first, there was a lot of blood and not too much pain. When the bone broke, it severed an artery and blood was gushing out of the wound. Snakes trainer Hannah Peterson and the Knoxville team doctors assessed the damage.
“Hannah and the doctor were trying to see, but it kept filling up with blood,” Beller said. “They were poking around in there and that really hurt. That was the least fun part of the whole experience.”
After surgery Sunday, Beller and Peterson returned Monday to Columbus. The hockey community and team rallied around Beller.
“We hated to leave Knoxville without him,” Sullivan said. “We were glad Hannah stayed with him. We hated that he had to go through that by himself.”
The first two weeks, Beller couldn’t open his mouth at all. He had bands on his teeth similar to braces and his jaw was clenched shut. In the early morning of the following Friday, Beller loosened the bands himself just enough to down two mashed up boiled eggs. The doctor put the bands back on for another four days. After two weeks, they were loosened and Beller could finally open his mouth. Only a week ago could he actually chew.
Beller’s menu for four weeks was porridge for breakfast, boiled eggs for lunch and macaroni and cheese for dinner. His first real meal was last Sunday at Olive Garden.
Beller lost 15 pounds during the ordeal. After an initial period when he could do nothing, he skated on his own after three weeks, then did other drills supervised by assistant coach Brad Prefontaine.
Sullivan was injured in practice Dec. 14 doing a simple two-on-two drill. A teammate pushed him into the padded turnbuckle.
“It was the way I hit it,” Sullivan said. “I was fine at first and kept playing. About 20 minutes later, my vision started getting blurred. My eyes wouldn’t focus and I was nauseous. Since then I’ve had bad headaches, dizzy spells and I’ve had trouble focusing.”
Peterson, in conjunction with team doctors, is closely monitoring Sullivan’s progress. “I need to go three days without symptoms before I can do anything,” Sullivan said. “On Christmas Day, I got on the bike. After 10 minutes, I had a headache and was nauseous.”
So, Sullivan began the three-day count again. He felt good Wednesday and looks forward to trying the bike again Saturday. If he remains symptom free, he can start working out, but it will be non-contact.
There is no timetable for Sullivan’s return.
“The frustrating part is that a concussion is a tricky thing. It’s not like you have a separated shoulder, which has a set timetable,” Sullivan said. “It could be one week to six weeks. The longer I’m out, the longer it’ll take me to get back into game shape.
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