GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Wojtek Wolski feared the worst.
“I thought I was paralyzed,” Wolski said.
It was an innocent enough play in an early season Kontinental Hockey League game. Wolski dived to poke the puck away from Vladimir Markelov, who slid and inadvertently knocked him head-first into the boards, breaking his neck.
Wolski lay motionless on the ice for minutes with a broken neck and had to be lifted onto a stretcher. Sixteen months removed from the scariest moment of his life, Wolski is not only walking and functional but playing hockey at such a high level that he’s representing Canada at the Olympics.