THE CANADIAN PRESS
KITCHENER, Ont. — As Kitchener Rangers forward Jason Akeson rifled a shot, the net behind Sarnia Sting goalie Adam Courchaine bulged and launched a water bottle into the air.
An Ontario Hockey League crowd of 5,719 cheered another game-winning Kitchener goal Sunday. The bottle fell to the ice and landed behind the net, just off to the side — and right on The Spot.
Two nights earlier, Rangers teammate Ben Fanelli lay on his back with his head on that spot. Blood slowly seeped onto the ice from a cut above one eye and spread in a sickening puddle.
On Sunday, Fanelli remained in intensive care at Hamilton General Hospital with skull and facial fractures. His condition, as reported by the Rangers, remained critical but stable.
His Rangers teammates came to the rink and played. What else could they do?
"We’ve got to keep going," Akeson said. "As hard as it is, as shocking as it is, you’ve got to keep battling. It’s good to come here and lose your thoughts for a couple hours."
Win a game. Lose their thoughts. Then, back to brutal reality.
Their teammate, a 16-year-old rookie from Oakville, Ont., is in rough shape.
This is head trauma, Rangers trainer Dan Lebold said. These matters are much more delicate than your typical concussion.
Their 4-1 victory over Sarnia didn’t change that. It can’t change anything.
"His tough time is right now," Lebold said of Fanelli.
Fanelli’s head slammed into the glass as he played a puck behind the Rangers goal on Friday night. Erie Otters forward Mike Liambas, a 20-year-old from Woodbridge, Ont., hit Fanelli hard as he played the puck.
Fanelli’s helmet broke and flew off as his head appeared to strike the partition framing the glass at the Zamboni entrance.
Team trainers flew off the benches to attend. Both teams formed prayer circles on the ice in front of their benches. Liambas was in tears as he watched Fanelli twitch and froth at the mouth before being rushed to Grand River Hospital.
The Otters veteran went to the hospital in Kitchener to see Fanelli but wasn’t allowed in.
Fanelli was later air-lifted to Hamilton General. That’s where he was on Sunday, in the care of top head trauma specialists.
"He’s in great hands," Lebold said.
But Fanelli’s No. 4 jersey, the one he wore Friday, was on the ice with the Rangers.
It was cut into small squares. Each player wore a piece of inside their sweater, on the back.
"We’re carrying him with us," teammate Jonathan Jasper said.
Rangers coach Steve Spott had has jersey piece tied to the belt on his pants.
"There’s no coach’s clinic that prepares you for this type of stuff," Spott said.
"I’m just trying to treat those 23 kids in there, and Ben, like my own."
The players are eager to see Fanelli. For now, it’s only real family, not hockey family.
His parents, Frank and Sue, are doing their best to deal with matters.
Spott said that Sue did not faint when her son was seriously injured on Friday, although that report was initially conformed by a Rangers official. She could hardly be blamed if she had.
In Hamilton, Spott and his staff visited the Fanelli into early Saturday morning.
Ontario Hockey League commissioner Dave Branch also met with the parents there to lend support. Branch said on Sunday that the process to determine a suspension to Liambas — who was ejected Friday for boarding and given a match penalty — has begun.
He would make no other comments on that matter. For now, the focus is Fanelli’s health.
"Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with them," Branch said.
"We’ll support Ben and his family and all of the Rangers with anything that we might be able to do."
Erie general manager Sherry Bassin said the Otters are praying for Fanelli too.
"We want that boy to be as healthy as possible, Bassin said. "We’re pulling for him."
Liambas, who did not respond to messages from The Record, had hoped to visit Fanelli in Hamilton on the weekend. But Bassin said the Otters were told only family is currently allowed to visit Fanelli.
"Our prayers go out to him and his family," Liambas’ mother Maggie said Sunday when reached in Woodbridge.
"We hope that he recovers 100 per cent. But, I mean, we’re concerned about our son too."
Bassin said Liambas is very smart and very caring.
"He’s not physically injured right now but he’s suffering," Bassin said.
"And good for him. That says a lot about him."
On Saturday, Lebold spent some time beside Fanelli, talking to the teen as he was drugged and hooked up to tubes and wires.
"He responded," Lebold said. "Not verbally or by voice. But you could almost tell he could hear you by the way he moved his hands."
Still, Lebold said, Fanelli has a long road ahead of him.
The spot where his blood spilled onto the ice is clean and white.
But his personal battle to recover continues in a Hamilton hospital.
The Rangers and their fans are pulling for him. Yesterday, the family’s home voice mail box was full and couldn’t handle any more messages. One fan at the Aud on Sunday held up a sign that read, "Play hard. Ben is with you. We are with you."
Rangers captain Dan Kelly shared those sentiments.
"There’s not much else we can do for Ben right now, just play hockey and play hard for him," Kelly said. "That’s the best thing we can do."
