MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Dylan Holloway was at the St. Louis Blues practice facility on Thursday, less than 24 hours after the forward was involved in a scary on-ice situation when he was hit in the neck with a puck.
Holloway was hit by an errant puck off the stick of Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nick Paul with 2:35 remaining in the first period of a 3-2 Blues win and finished his shift.
Play was stopped with 1:11 remaining as Holloway was being attended to for what turned out to be an issue with the Vagus nerve on the right side of his neck before he was taken from the bench on a stretcher.
"I feel good today. I feel way better," Holloway said at Centene Community Ice Center on Wednesday. "Obviously it was a scary situation. From what I've been told, the puck hit my Vagus nerve in my neck and as soon as I got hit, I knew something was a little off, but then I saw we got a little 2-on-1, so I couldn't pass up that opportunity. As soon as I got to the bench, I was feeling a little woozy and then I didn't really remember much from there until I was on the stretcher close to the ambulance."
Holloway did not take part in on ice drills at practice Wednesday, but said he hopes to play when the Blues host the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FDSNMW, Utah16).
"[Doctors] told me no activity for 24 hours and then I'm good to go," he said. "I'm hoping to play tomorrow, but we'll see. … I was on the bike a little bit, so I was just kind of pedaling, getting my legs going a little bit, but nothing crazy. They just told me 24 hours, nothing strenuous. Hopeful to play tomorrow."
Blues coach Drew Bannister also didn't rule out Holloway playing on Thursday.
"There is a possibility; don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves here," Bannister said. "We're less than 12 hours away from what that injury was. We'll kind of take it day to day with him and see how he's doing tomorrow, but today's a good day for us."
Holloway got to the bench and told head athletic trainer Ray Barile something was not right, and the Blues training staff immediately went into action, stabilizing Holloway's head before the medical staff could get to the bench with a stretcher. He was taken to the hospital with his mother and father, who were in town, accompanying him.
"I don't know what I thought was going on, but I didn't even know that they stopped the game," Holloway said. "I told Ray, our head trainer, that I was feeling weird on the bench and the next thing I knew, I was awake on a stretcher close to the ambulance. I didn't realize that they stopped the game, I didn't realize that it was actually that big of a deal, but I'm just thankful that all the medical staff and everybody was so hands on and were able to get me to the hospital safely."
Holloway said doctors told him he had a normal reaction.
"They said that's a pretty normal response," Holloway said. "The way it was compared to me, I don't know if you ever watched UFC, but sometimes a guy will get into a choke hold and get choked out in like two seconds and you kind of wonder why. He can't just hold his breath. It's just that nerve, you get hit in the nerve, then you just go out."
Holloway was given multiple tests and was released from the hospital at 12 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
"When we left the rink yesterday, we had news that he was doing well and there was a good chance that he would be released last night and he was ad then even better to see him here this morning and looking the way that he did, feeling good," Bannister said.
Holloway has six points (four goals, two assists) in 13 games this season, his first with St. Louis after signing a two-year contract on Aug. 20.
"Just scared for the person, and obviously my friend and our teammate," Blues forward Jake Neighbours said. "That's really all you're thinking about at that point in time is praying that he's going to be OK, try and keep your head from going to the worst, but it's a scary situation, something you don't want to be a part of. You just try and hope for the best and stay positive about it and hope that he's going to be OK."
