Brian McGrattan’s journeyman hockey career has taken him from the minor leagues to the National Hockey League, back to the minors, back to the NHL and so on and so forth for 20 seasons. Tuesday night might have been the most painful (and scariest) night for him in all that time.
Playing as a member of the AHL’s San Diego Gulls, an affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks, McGrattan found himself involved in a fight (as he is often wont to do) with San Antonio Rampage player Daniel Maggio. During what seemed like an even back-and-forth, Maggio caught McGrattan with a punch square in the jaw and McGrattan immediately slumped to the ice. He laid there for several minutes unconscious before a stretcher took him off the ice.
It certainly looked scary in the moment but there was some good news later on that evening after he had been transported to the hospital.
INJURY UPDATE: Brian McGrattan is conscious, alert and has full movement.
— San Diego Gulls (@SDGullsAHL) January 20, 2016
Hopefully McGrattan is back on the ice soon.