Minor league hockey player suffers gruesome facial cut from skate blade (PHOTOS)

Sebastien Courcelles is one tough hockey player. He’s the captain of the Thetford-Mines Isothermic of the Ligue Nord-Americaine de Hockey, a low level semi-pro minor league based in Quebec that specializes in goon warfare. And yes, those are stitches —and too many to count — on his face in the photo below.

During a game in Saguenay,Quebec Saturday against the Trois-Rivieres Viking, Courcelles was checked by Jean-Michel Bolduc and fell to the ice. Then Bolduc’s skate inadvertently slashed open his cheek.

At first Courcelles didn’t know how bad it was. He just knew he was bleeding. Then he heard his brother Simon Courcelles, who also plays for Isothermic, shouting at him to apply pressure and then telling someone to call 911. And because his brother also happens to be a paramedic, at that point he knew it would be bad.

WARNING: Graphic photos after the jump.

As it turned out, the gash had severed a nerve in his face, and he Courcelles would require two hours on the operating table just to get it all stitched up. And according to TVA Sports, when he saw the scar in the mirror after the operation, he turned green and nearly fainted—which is pretty understandable.

Corcelles says he plans on skating again Friday night. Told you he was tough.