Young hockey player suffers gruesome injury in horrific attack.

A very young man by the name of Michael Armfield has suffered an absolutely horrific injury, but thankfully for young Michael and his family they seem to be getting some very strong support from the hockey community. 

The story was brought to our attention when National Hockey League referee Tim Peel announced that he was starting a fundraiser to help the young boy who according to Peel was attacked by a pitbull. As you can see from the images that brought you to this story the damage done to poor Michael has been rather awful and no doubt the family will now incur significant medical expenses as a result of this, not to mention the legal fees they may also have to deal with due to this whole situation. 

Here was the message published by NHL referee Tim Peel on the GoFundMe he launched:

This is Michael Armfield. He is 9 years old and plays for the Chesterfield Falcons in Chesterfield, Missouri. My name is Tim Peel and I have had the pleasure of coaching Michael for 2 years. He is always so happy and fun to be around and a joy to coach. He loves his teammates and they love him. Unfortunately, he was attacked by a pit bull 4 weeks ago and suffered severe damage to his head. He is going to require extensive skin graphs to his scalp and will be unable to play any sports for possibly a year. The hockey community is very special and I am asking you to please help out his family with the medical costs associated with this tragic injury. Thank you, Tim Peel

It is hard not to feel terrible for little Michael who, as Tim Peel says, is only just 9 years old. There's no telling the kind of trauma this poor boy experienced during the attack but hopefully with the help of the hockey community at large he will be able to get the best help that money can buy. Thankfully this seems to have caught the attention of some high profile members of the hockey community, with people like Fox Sports' Andy Strickland and San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane already signal boosting it to the masses.