Willie O’Ree was in the recovery room after the operation at the hospital in Guelph, Ontario. It was 1955, and a slap shot had deflected off a stick, hitting him in the right eye during a junior hockey game. Now the surgeon was delivering a check to the Kitchener player’s soul.
“Mr. O’Ree, the impact of the puck completely shattered the retina in your right eye,” he said. “You’re going to be blind and you’ll never play hockey again.”
O’Ree slumped back in his bed. He was 19. But soon the Canadian kid decided to prove the doctor wrong and returned to play about four weeks later.