Fast breaks, faceoffs and friendship

Stephen Wooten, a professor at the University of Oregon, finds community and relives part of his childhood when he steps out on to the hockey rink

By Darienne Stiyer March 10, 2018

The first two and half periods of a hockey game on a January night in 2009 played out just like normal. One goal scored in the first and two scored in the second, the game was moving along at a steady pace. Until the last few minutes of the third period.

Stephen Wooten was skating along the boards when he lost an edge and hit the ice hard. But his opponent fell on top of him even harder. Luckily, Wooten didn’t end up breaking the glasses he wore underneath the cage of his helmet, but unluckily, he ended up snapping his right leg. “It hurt like hell,” Wooten said. “You could hear the bones pop.”

Several players helped Wooten off the ice before an ambulance came to take him to the hospital. Jon Brand, the captain of Wooten’s team, followed him there and stayed with Wooten for several hours. It was nearly 2 a.m. before Brand realized it was his birthday. “I never would’ve thought I would spend the first couple of hours of my 50th at Sacred Heart,” Brand said jokingly. “Thanks, Wooten.”

But he was happy to stay and keep Wooten company. And Brand wasn’t the only player to make sure Wooten was all right. The player who’d broken Wooten’s leg stopped by Wooten’s house after he was released from the hospital, bringing magazines and hockey books with him. He even offered to mow the lawn.

“The breaking the leg part wasn’t great,” Wooten recalled. “But the treatment of people after – that kind of camaraderie of people that care about each other – it’s a unique community of caring.”

Even after a surgery that required a plate and several screws to fix his leg, Wooten still comes back every season.

“I wasn’t going to not play anymore,” Wooten said with a smile.

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