Danny Geoffrion is happy his son didn’t suffer a life-threatening injury.
“We’re lucky that he’s alive,” Blake Geoffrion’s father, Danny, told Josh Cooper of the Tennessean.
Geoffrion, 24, was injured during an American Hockey League game Friday after taking a hit from Syracuse Crunch defenceman Jean-Philippe Côté.
He underwent emergency surgery for a depressed skull fracture and is expected to make a full recovery.
“They removed the piece of his skull that was about the size of a silver dollar,” Danny told Cooper. “They had to replace that with titanium and metal mesh. And that’s what the plate consists of, with the screws and all that, so he now has that in his head. It was unreal.
“Parts of the skull had gotten into the brain… so they cleaned all that out, and took care of the little bleeding he did have, which was another major thing. He was very, very lucky.”
After undergoing surgery, the doctors told Danny that they needed to check Blake for brain damage in a CAT scan.
Thank you to everyone for their kind words and support. Today has been a little tougher but continuing to get better. #phil4:13
— Blake Geoffrion (@BlakeGeoffrion) November 12, 2012
Geoffrion was removed from intensive care Sunday.
“He’s doing OK, he’s a little raspy, not taking any calls or anything like that because of the tube that they had to insert in his throat made everything raw,” Danny said. “But he’s in good spirits and tells everybody think you for all the emails, tweets and texts.
“Now, we need Blake to be back 100 per cent strong."
The Predators selected Geoffrion in the second round of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. They traded him to Montreal last February.
