Sean Avery, tough-yet-flamboyant Rangers left winger, was rushed to the hospital early this morning with what was first reported to be cardiac arrest but is now being called a lacerated spleen. Avery's Mom told ESPN that he suffered a hit during the first period of the Rangers' playoff loss Tuesday night.
Last week, Avery was the subject of a "Talk of the Town" piece in The New Yorker that painted dude as less the guy "known for getting under opponents' skin with a chippy style of play" than just a doofus who likes to wear scarves and nail polish to freak out his teammates and mess with Marty Brodeur:
Last week, Avery made agitator history, in the third game of the Rangers’ best-of-seven first-round playoff series against the New Jersey Devils, by inventing a new idiot technique. During a Rangers power play, he positioned himself in front of the Devils’ goalie, Martin Brodeur, to block his view of the puck—a standard tactic known as a screen. Avery, however, turned to face Brodeur and, ignoring the play, began waving his arms and his stick in Brodeur’s face. Brodeur attempted to peer past him, but Avery carried on, even after one of his own teammates skated up and told him to cut it out. The Devils, shorthanded and desperate for a win, couldn’t indulge the urge, acute as it must have been, to knock out Avery’s teeth, especially when, a moment later, Avery put the puck past a seething and distracted Brodeur. Goal.
Oh, before I forget: F THE RANGERS
