Sam Ruopp was in agony.
Eight minutes into Tuesday's game, while killing a penalty, the 19-year-old Prince George Cougars defenceman was hit in the neck by the puck while down on one knee trying to block a shot from Tyler Sandhu of the Tri-City Americans.
Ruopp laid on ice for several minutes until he skated off and was taken immediately to hospital in Kennewick, Wash., where it was determined there was no damage to the blood vessels in his neck. Ruopp did not play Wednesday night in Spokane and is doubtful to return in time for the Cougars' final two games of their road trip Friday in Spokane or Saturday in Tri-City.
"He just went down to block a shot and the puck went on edge and hit him in the neck," said Cougars general manager Todd Harkins. "He went to the hospital and it's just a bruise and he's got some discomfort, obviously, but the blood vessels are fine and there are no cracks. It's like a bit of whiplash feeling that he'll have for awhile and until he can get mobility he'll be sidelined for awhile. We'll just take it day by day and I know he's feeling better today.
"When I talked to him before he went to the hospital he was more mad that they cut his jersey off."
Already without injured defenceman Josh Anderson (back) and Shaun Dosanjh (concussion), the Cougars can ill-afford to be without Ruopp, their captain, and one of the top players on the team. Through 60 games, he had four goals and 17 assists for 21 points and leads the Cougars with a plus-19 rating. Ruopp had not missed a game this season prior to Wednesday.
"We've been pretty lucky over the course of the year and Craig (Hislop, the Cougars' athletic therapist) has done a great job on the training side just making sure injuries are down," said Harkins. "We're hoping to get these guys back for the push towards the end and go from there. This is the time of year where a lot of teams get injuries because of the amount of games we play in January and February."
Players in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League wear neck guards to prevent cuts but there is no rule requiring that in the WHL.
The Cougars lost 4-1 to the Americans and Harkins said the shock of seeing Ruopp go down might have played a factor in the team's ineffective play the first two periods Tuesday.
"Guys were a bit disturbed by it, there are a couple of players on the team from Alberta and that happened to one of the players they played with and he passed away," said Harkins. "It just rattles the dressing room a bit, and by the time we got over it and started playing in the third it was too late."
With Ruopp out Wednesday, the Cougars gave six-foot-five, 207-pound Slovenian import Luka Zorko a chance to play for his first game since Feb. 3 in Prince Albert. Zorko, a WHL rookie who turns 19 on Saturday, has played just 18 games.
The Spokane game also marked the WHL debut of 16-year-old defenceman Jonas Harkins, the younger brother of Cougars centre Jansen, who played his 200th WHL game Wednesday. The Cougars him in the second round of the 2015 bantam draft, 28th overall. He's been playing with the Cariboo Cougars major midget team.
The Cougars also dressed 16-year-old centre Adam Kadlec for his first WHL game. The native of Minnesota joined the Cougars a few weeks ago from the Boston Junior Bruins organization.
