Nasty hit sours silver-medal win

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Colton Yellow Horn did eventually get his medal from his inaugural international hockey tournament, but not in the way he would have preferred.

Yellow Horn was not around for the medal ceremonies of the world under-18 hockey championships held in the Czech Republic. Yellowhorn, a member of the Canadian squad, was the victim of a dirty hit late in a contest in the gold-medal game held April 24 between Canada and the United States.

Yellow Horn, 17, was sent head-first into the board with a check from behind by American forward Justin Mercier with about six minutes remaining in the contest. Mercier was assessed a five-minute major, as well as a match penalty.

Yellow Horn, who toils for the Western Hockey League's Lethbridge Hurricanes, was taken off the ice by stretcher and taken to a hospital where he had a CAT scan performed.

Canada was defeated 5-1 in the game to take the silver medal. Fortunately, Yellow Horn was released with nothing more than a bruised neck, but it was too late for formal medal presentations. He was presented with his medal by a teammate when he returned to the arena.

Yellow Horn was not keen to see a tape of the hit.

"I just remember going head first into the boards," Yellow Horn told Alberta Sweetgrass a couple of days after returning to Canada. "I had trouble breathing. That was the scary thing because I didn't know what was going on."

Though he was able to resume breathing normally after a few minutes, Yellow Horn was transported to hospital, primarily as a precautionary measure.

Yellow Horn admitted he was still in a bit of pain a few days after.

"I still feel it mainly in my neck and a bit in my lower back," he said.

Yellow Horn was able to fly back home with his Canadian teammates, but said he was uncomfortable during his 14-hour trip.

Yellow Horn flew from Prague to Germany. The team then flew to Toronto. And Yellow Horn then caught a connecting flight to Calgary.

"It was really uncomfortable because you don't have much room to move around on the plane," he said.

Yellow Horn though was content with his club's silver medal performance in the Czech Republic.

"I'm satisfied," he said. "The guys on the U.S. team have been playing together for like three, four years. And our team was thrown together two weeks ago. I'm really happy with how we did."

Yellow Horn scored two goals in six games at the tournament. Both of his goals came in Canada's 15-1 triumph over Denmark. The 10-team tournament also included Russia, Sweden, Germany, Slovakia, Finland, Switzerland and host Czech Republic.

Yellow Horn, who recently completed his sophomore season in the WHL, led the Hurricanes in scoring this year. He racked up 86 points (35 goals, 51 assists) in 70 games.