NHL goaltender laid out at the World Championship!

This one looked really, really, bad. 

Although the Stanley Cup Playoffs are still ongoing right now there are plenty of players who play within the National Hockey League that are currently active in the International Ice Hockey Federations World Championship. Those players are of course all from teams that have been eliminated in the playoffs but often times we are talking about key components of NHL teams including star players and members of an NHL team's core. It is for that reason that injuries are always a concern at these type of tournaments and unfortunately for the Vancouver Canucks they may have just gotten a very raw deal indeed. 

Earlier today Team Sweden was taking on Team Finland at the World Championship tournament and backstopping the Swedish squad was none other than Vancouver Canucks #1 goaltender Jacob Markstrom. It was no doubt a great honor for Markstrom to represent his country at the World Championship and I also have no doubt that the Canucks were very happy to let him get more big game experience under his belt, but things turned very ugly late in the 2nd period today. 

With just seconds left to go in the frame a loose puck began to make it's way towards the Swedish zone and, seeing a chance to get to the puck before the opposition could, Markstrom sprinted out of his crease to make a play on the puck. Unfortunately for Markstrom racing against him was Juhani Tyrvainen, a Finnish player with a reputation for crossing the line with his play, and Tyrvainen had no intention of letting Markstrom get there first. Well the Canucks goalie did get there first to make a play on the puck but Tyrvainen barely slowed his momentum and instead of avoiding the play altogether he completely ran over Markstrom, rocking him in the process.

It was obvious that the Canucks goalie was in rough shape following the hit. Markstrom would lay down on the ice for several long moments after the impact and, unsurprisingly, he would leave the game as a result of this and did not return. Needless to say I have no doubt the Vancouver Canucks are very angry at this situation, and rather unhappy with Juhani Tyrvainen as well.

[pub]