PHOTOGRAPHER INJURED

It isn’t just paparazzi that risk life and limb in the line of duty. Photojournalists can also be in the line of fire, as a Citizen photographer discovered Friday while shooting from the visitors bench during the Senators practice.

A puck shot by Karlsson hit a stick, deflected up and struck Jean Levac in the forehead, cutting him badly, so deep that the tissue was torn through to to the bone. Senators doctor Don Chow used eight stitches, including two on the inside of the cut, to close the north-south gash. A second cut, across the bridge of the nose caused by the camera jamming his face, was sealed with glue.

The accident left Levac’s Canon 1dx camera in pieces, smashing a Canon 16-35 2.8 lens. Levac, though, was bloodied but unbowed.

“Twelve years of shooting (hockey) and that’s the first time it’s happened,” Levac said, vowing to return to the scene of the crime. “Same old, same old. We need bench access,” he said.

After Levac went down, Senators players skated over to the bench in concern. Athletic therapist Domenic Nicoletta was called to the bench area and applied a towel to slow the bleeding, before helping Levac to the training room for treatment.

“It looked pretty bad,” Karlsson said afterward. “It’s a dangerous sport, even for you guys. You never know.”

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Tags: Jean Levac, Karlsson, stitches