Martin Gerber severely injures neck - may not play for 6+ months

http://www.russianhockeyfans.com/khl/martin-gerber-hospitalized-with-a-serious-neck-injury-62.html

"The injury is very serious, Martin can forget about hockey for next 6 months," said one of the hospital's doctors, Igor Suvorov. "Thank God the spinal cord was not hurt and there is no threat to his life. Gerber will soon be sent to a special clinics in Podolsk to undergo computed tomography to ensure the spinal cord is not hurt."

Martin Gerber is expected to stay at the hospital for at least 2 months.

"Gerber underwent computed tomography. The preliminary diagnosis is a compression fracture of the fourth cervical vertebra. Monday morning Gerber will have an advanced medical examination."

Very scary. Thankfully there's no spinal cord damage... I was on the field with a buddy of mine in a rugby game when he did the very same thing - compression fracture to a vertebra with no spinal cord damage. Very scary.

That's very unfortunate. Gerber was a professional throughout his entire 3 years with Ottawa, and while it didn't go so well for him, the team and the fans, we surely appreciate how professional he stayed through the entire ugly situation. Best of luck and a speedy recovery.

Wow, you just don't often hear of goalies being injured like this, but just a few weeks ago Leclaire almost had his neck broken as well.

I don't know how this happened -- haven't found any pictures/video, and the only description was that Romanov ran into him. However reading some comments written by fans, it would seem that this was fairly intentional and not just an unfortunate accident. Once commenter says Atlant should have been given an automatic win, the other team fined, and the player responsible suspended.

Gerber was taken to the same hospital where Cherepanov died. How's that for coincidence?

Gerber's family are in Germany and will be flown in to see him.

Very scary indeed. Glad to hear he sounds like he'll be okay.

Godspeed, Tinu.

Wish him the best