DISBELIEF! Fans stunned as Wing stricken

November 22, 2005

BY M.L. ELRICK and JIM SCHAEFER

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

From left, Brendan Shanahan, Steve Yzerman, Kris Draper and Robert Lang take a gurney across the ice to the Red Wings' bench as teammate Jiri Fischer is being treated by medical personnel. Monday night's game was postponed with Nashville leading, 1-0. (JULIAN H. GONZALEZ/Detroit Free Press)

Fans expecting to cheer on the Red Wings against the Nashville Predators at the Joe Louis Arena on Monday night were stunned as they watched defenseman Jiri Fischer collapse on the bench during the first period, and teammates and medical personnel rush to his aid.

Don Aaron, 70, of West Bloomfield, was sitting in Row 7, Seat 15, right on top of the tunnel where Fischer collapsed.

"We just saw him come off the ice," Aaron said. "It looked like he sat down and he just fell over. A couple of the players saw he was down and threw stuff on the ice to stop play."

Fischer was not moving, Aaron said, and the nearby crowd was in stunned silence: "They couldn't talk. ... This is a game. It's not supposed to be for your life."

Teammates, including Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman, yelled for assistance. When Fischer dropped, he was surrounded by other Wings defensemen.

"He was out cold," said Kevin Duffy, 47, who is from the Philadelphia area and was in town for the holiday. "They started pounding on his chest and that's when Yzerman and all of them started freaking out. ... It was evident that (Fischer) wasn't breathing."

Many in the packed arena weren't sure whether a player had collapsed or whether a fan had fallen over a railing into a tunnel leading to the Wings' locker room.

Rosemarie Green, 35, of Rochester brought her two sons, Cameron and Griffin, to the game to celebrate Cameron's sixth birthday.

"From our seats we could see the doctor doing CPR, which was very scary to us," she said.

Throughout the arena, fans were baffled at the scene unfolding on the ice. Many spoke on their cell phones trying to find out what happened or reporting to others what they knew. Few got through because circuits were jammed.

Just a minute or so after the collapse, most of the Wings bench and the Nashville players headed to the locker room. Yzerman, Shanahan, Kris Draper and Robert Lang stayed on the ice, hovering over their fallen teammate.

At one point as Fischer was being treated, Shanahan and Lang skated to the Zamboni entrance and helped his fiancee, Avery, to his side.

Herman Houin, 48, of Grosse Pointe, who said he is a plastic surgeon at Henry Ford Hospital and was sitting near the Wings bench, said later that he was surprised to hear the public address announcer say Fischer had suffered a seizure. Houin said it looked like a heart problem such as arrhythmia from his vantage point.

"It didn't look like he was breathing," Houin said. "They were breathing for him."

Other witnesses said team personnel had at least three defibrillators near Fischer's side as they worked to revive him.

Yzerman and Shanahan skated a stretcher to the bench, and fans cheered a few minutes after it appeared the crisis was over. But they fell silent after no one was loaded onto the stretcher and it was taken away.

After rescue workers held up what appeared to be a pair of shoulder pads, fans realized a player had been stricken.

Many headed to the concourse after the public address announcer said the ice would be re-surfaced and play would resume in about 15 minutes. One rumor running rampant was that Fischer had taken a puck to the throat and collapsed on the bench.

Shortly after the game was cancelled, Nashville players waited by their bus outside the arena, chatting on cell phones. Around 9:30, a Detroit police car arrived to lead a procession of six luxury cars and SUVs that appeared to be driven by Wings players westbound on Jefferson.

One officer on the scene said he assumed they were headed to the hospital.

Contact M.L. ELRICK at 313-223-3327 or melrick@freepress.com. Contact JIM SCHAEFER at 313-223-4542 or jschaefer@freepress.com.

Goblet of Fire

Thursday night we saw Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire. It was amazing. The only complaint that I have is that it was pretty rushed and incomplete - but they couldn't make it 4 hours long or anything so they did the best they could I suppose.

New Respect

The other day Mary Joe Buttafuoco was on Oprah. I know it sounds stupid, but this is an incredible woman. She has been through so much (even more than I had realized) but it turns out that she’s an intelligent, wise, well spoken woman. I had often wondered about some of the choices she made (staying with Joey for so long after the whole ordeal was “over”, etc.) but after seeing her on Oprah it all makes sense. Her daughter was on the show as well, and she’s also a very bright, wise, well spoken woman. I was really impressed with both of them. Who knew that the Buttafuoco women were people to look up to?

Which do you want first?

Let's start with the bad news. I did horribly on both tests in Gross II. It's possible to pull myself out of the hole I'm in but I'll really have to work my ass off. Ugh.
The good news: I'm doing really well in the rest of my classes. Except for Gross this is the best quarter I've had so far. And even though I'm failing Gross at the moment, for some reason I'm still in a really good mood. This is probably due to a few things, and here they are in no particular order:
1. Goblet of Fire comes out on Friday and we're going to see it Thursday night (technically Friday morning) at 12:01. WOOHOO.
2. I've been talking to a really nice (not to mention dead sexy) guy for the past few days. That's all I'll say for fear of jinxing it.
3. For the past few days my meals have ended with a warm slice of apple pie.
4. Thanksgiving is coming up and I'm actually kind of looking forward to going home. You know, the three Fs: Family, friends, and food. I just wish Rabea could come with me. :(

'Go-getter,' 18, ousts mayor in Michigan

By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

Michael Sessions is too young to drink champagne legally, but the 18-year-old high school senior has reason to celebrate: He unofficially won a race for mayor Tuesday by defeating the baby boomer incumbent.

		Michael Sessions, 18, attends school Wednesday in Hillsdale, Mich.
		By David P. Gilkey, Detroit Free Press

Sessions, who turned 18 on Sept. 22, ran as a write-in candidate because he was too young to get on the ballot in the spring. The young politician used $700 from a summer job to fund his door-to-door campaign in Hillsdale, Mich., a town of about 9,000.

Unofficial results show that Sessions got 732 votes, compared with 668 for Mayor Doug Ingles, 51. Once his victory is certified and he's sworn in — the ceremony is set for Nov. 21 — he may be the youngest mayor in the USA. The U.S. Conference of Mayors lacks the data to determine whether he'll be the youngest mayor ever, says spokeswoman Elena Temple.

At least two other teens have been elected as mayors in recent years, but they were a tad older and represented much smaller towns. Jeffrey Dunkel was one month shy of 19 when he was sworn in as mayor of tiny Mount Carbon, Pa., in January 2002, and Chris Portman was 19 at his inauguration in Mercer, Pa., the same month.

"I've always been interested in politics," says Sessions, who registered to vote the day after his birthday and became a write-in candidate one day later. "It's certainly hard to be a write-in candidate," he says, adding that he drove around town Tuesday afternoon, nervous that people didn't know his name.

He says many voters told him they wanted "new energy," but he was still caught off-guard by the support he received.

"He was a real go-getter during his campaign," says Steven Brower, a government and economics teacher at Hillsdale High School. "He acted like he was running for president."

Brower, who gave his former student campaign tips, says he's thrilled: "There are too many kids today who laugh at government." He says Sessions, by carefully researching issues before taking a position, will serve responsibly in the largely ceremonial, four-year post.

The job comes with no office, no chair, no filing cabinet — not even a drawer, says incumbent Ingles. The mayor, who gets a $250 monthly stipend, casts one of nine votes on the City Council.

Ingles, who runs a roller-skating rink, says he's not upset by his loss. "It's an honor to serve. I'm proud of that," he says.

Dunkel says the toughest part of being a young mayor was getting people to take him seriously. After he proved he could do the job, by getting a police protection grant in his first year, he says residents came around. He won re-election this week.

Sessions says his parents were skeptical at first but are now "very supportive." He says he has no agenda but wants to meet everyone. "I'm trying to set up a board of advisers" that will include a former mayor and leaders from Hillsdale College, which he hopes to attend next fall.

Sessions plans to devote after-school hours to the job and use his bedroom as his office.

Oops

Here I sit, stuck at school. Haha...that sounds like the opening line of a weird limerick or something. Anyway, this morning I had a lab practical so after it was over I had about an hour before my next practical so I decided to go home and chill for a bit. When it was time to head back to school I left the house (locking the door behind me of course) and immediately realized (realised if you're Rabea) that I had left my keys in the house. My new roommate had left just moments before I did so I called her cell phone hoping she'd turn around and let me in...but of course there was no answer. So I had to run to school. We all know that I'm not a very active guy, so I was not pleased. The practical I had was for x-ray full spine. That professor usually won't let you sit the exam if you're late so I was a little worried. I ended up walking in 2 minutes late but she didn't say anything. Now I'm stuck at the library until I can get in touch with Kim.

My phone is a piece

My phone is becoming more and more useless by the day. At this point I can only make/receive calls about 35% of the time. If you call and can't get though just leave a message and I'll get it...eventually. Ugh.

Singles

Yesterday Mike and I went to a singles party. On one hand it was fun, but on the other hand it was a little depressing. When we got there they gave us name tags with our names and numbers on them (mine was 007 - hot). Throughout the evening if you see someone you like you're supposed to go to the table and write his number and a little note for him on a card, then the male-man delivers it to him. Well, I didn't get any of those. Bummer. There were over 100 people there, and I got nada. On the other hand, I did get a guy's phone number from him in person, so I guess that's better anyway. I'll probably give him a call sometime this week.
There was a guy there that I was talking with for a while and he seemed really cool and nice, plus he was pretty hot. Later in the evening I finally got the balls to go talk to him again and get his number but he had already left. Damn. All in all it was a fun night though. Mike and I made a new friend that we'll probably end up hanging out with sometime.

Quiz

I've been up since before 7:00. I was bored, so I made a quiz...

Take my Quiz on QuizYourFriends.com!

Luke

Here are some pictures of Luke, my cousin's son.