OK, one more after this one.  For those of you who didn't hear about
women's player Raffi Wolf's injury Wednesday night, it is was pretty
scary. Anyway, here's a little sidebar with some of her comments on the
moment.
 
        It was like her life flashed before her eyes. Petrified, she tried to
move her neck as her body lay motionless, frozen to the ice surface in
Alfond Arena.
        But she couldn't. Not right away anyway. And suddenly freshman
sensation Raffi Wolf realized the nightmare every hockey player fears
will happen to them. To their careers. To their life.
        With under five minutes remaining in the first period of Maine's tilt
with Bowdoin Wednesday night, Wolf apparently lost an edge and slammed
head first into the boards fueling a fire of horror, fright and pain
that scorched her stationary body.
        And, if not for at least a second or two, the native of Germany
thought everything was over.
        "I went head first and I tried to get my arms up but I couldn't," Wolf
said. "I couldn't move my neck. I thought I was paralyzed. I was trying
to move, but I couldn't. My head just crashed into the boards."
The fears. The anxiety. The breathing. The tears. Everything came in
one of those chilling moments that seem to last for eternity. Flashes.
Her family. Her life. More flashes. Everything seemed to drift away.
        "I was just lying there," Wolf said. "I couldn't feel my neck and I
started breathing not the right way and was crying at the same time.
        "I was so scared. I'd never had anything like this happen to me. I was
wondering if I'd ever see my family again. It scared me so bad. For a
moment I thought I would quit hockey because it's not worth losing your
life for."
        These are real words. These are words  spoken from someone who
abruptly had everything put into perspective. After several minutes
laying on the ice with a trainer and coach Rick Filighera by her side,
Wolf slowly emerged and was helped off the ice.
        She had regained motion and didn't return the rest of the evening.
        And, nearly 24 hours after the incident, she was still feeling the
nerves.
        Wolf walked into Filighera's office yesterday and told him she was
riddled with anxiety.
        "I told coach that my next game I probably won't be skating around the
boards very much," Wolf said. "When I went to the doctors they said I
had a concussion."
        Raffi Wolf is recovering from her injury she suffered Wednesday night
but the emotional strain pulling on her head and mind will take some
time to recede.
        "I just hope no one will ever experience what I did," said Wolf, who
is the Black Bears' leading scorer.