Injuries are an unfortunate part of sports. And while it's certainly worse for the player who gets injured, others are still very much affected when it happens.
Minnesota Wild forward Eric Nystrom has expressed his personal anguish on Twitter after being involved in a play that resulted in Edmonton Oilers defenseman Taylor Fedun breaking his right leg.
Nystrom and Fedun both chased after a puck near the end boards during a game Friday. Nystrom reached around Fedun with his stick in the hopes of avoiding an icing call. Unfortunately, Nystrom's stick got tangled up with Fedun's skate, sending Fedun crashing into the boards. He left the game on a stretcher and has reportedly sustained a broken leg.
But Nystrom, who received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct, was very clear in the way he felt after the game. He told The Globe and Mail that the injury was one of those freak things that happens and that he felt "terrible."
However, as Yahoo Sports points out, Nystrom has continued to address the incident via Twitter, where he's taking a lot of heat from upset fans and receiving support from those that are much more understanding.
He's even taken the time to respond to a number of those hitting him up. Here are some of the tweets that Nystrom has fired out over the past 24 hours regarding the incident:
"@fabler09 I am fightin for mine too and just wanted to show a new coach my work ethic by beatin out an icing. I feel so bad u have no idea!"
"@jrmehle I appreciate ur support. I feel so bad about what happened I could die"
"@fabio_calgary thanks a lot for the support. It was an accident! I would never ever ever ever want to hurt someone"
"@MattSchollz it feels awesome man! Are u serious?? I am human and have a conscience. I feel so awful right now u don't even know."
"@Werdnah just tryin to hustle like I have my whole career.Very unfortunate what happened,I would switch places w taylor right now if I could"
"@Relic75 its not lame, that's exactly what happens. Two guys goin full speed, accidents happen. I feel so bad right now I could puke!"
"@natedoo22 I've raced for thousands of icings, unfortunately an injury occurred on this particular play. I feel so bad!"
"@rynrynsuperstar tried visitin him last night but couldn't, goin to stop by hospital again today!"
Nystrom went to the hospital to visit Fedun on Saturday after being turned away Friday night because Fedun was being prepped for surgery, according to the Star Tribune. He reportedly showed up with flowers and spent 10 minutes alone with Fedun at his bedside, during which he repeatedly apologized.
"But no matter how many times I say sorry, he'll still be in the spot that he is," Nystrom told the Star Tribune. "It doesn't feel good to know that you're involved in something that hurt someone so seriously. But he really appreciated me stopping by, and I really appreciated him being so understanding."
