NHL referee Mitch Dunning was taken off the ice on a stretcher during the Colorado Avalanche vs. Philadelphia Flyers game Monday night.
Dunning was skating away from the puck when Avalanche defenseman Josh Munson collided with him in the first period. Dunning hit the ice hard and lay there for several minutes as trainers and medical staff came out to treat him.
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Referee Mitch Dunning (center) is injured and carried off the ice on a stretcher during the first period of an NHL hockey game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Colorado Avalanche on Monday, November 18, 2024 in Philadelphia. . (AP Photo/Derrick Hamilton)
He was then taken off the ice on a stretcher.
“Referee Mitch Dunning was taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons following a collision during the @Avalanche / @NHLFlyers game,” the league said in an X post. limb. ”
The game was delayed several minutes.
A Blues player was hit in the neck by the puck but continued to play until he was eventually stretched.
Referee Mitch Dunning (below) lies on the ice with an injury during the first period of an NHL hockey game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Colorado Avalanche on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derrick Hamilton)
Dunning is a former professional hockey player in the Ontario Hockey League. He played parts of three seasons with the Sarnia Sting and Windsor Spitfires. He suffered a serious knee injury during the 2010-11 season with the Spitfires.
He retired from hockey after playing for the University of Windsor in the 2012-13 season and turned to coaching, eventually becoming a referee with the Windsor-Essex Umpires Association in 2014.
He worked his way up the officiating ladder through the OHL, East Coast Hockey League, American Hockey League, and then the NHL. He was offered a minor league officiating contract in 2018 and was promoted to the NHL in 2022.
Colorado Avalanche's Josh Manson, 42, (right) speaks with referee Mitch Dunning (center). An injured Dunning is carried off the ice on a stretcher during the first period of an NHL hockey game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Avalanche on Monday, November 18, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derrick Hamilton)
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According to his NHL Officials Association biography, Dunning's first NHL game was in March 2019 between the Florida Panthers and the Ottawa Senators.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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