Holmes recovering as Hounds prep for Spirit

by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies

Jacob Holmes admits it was the worst experience of his hockey career.

And while his left eye lid, which was cut by an errant stick in a Friday game in London, remains swollen and bruised, the Soo Greyhounds defenceman is candid about how he barely avoided a serious and possibly life-changing injury.

“I was within millimeters of doing some serious damage to my left eye,” said the 18-year-old (2003 birth year) Dallas Stars prospect, a fifth-round selection in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. “I feel very fortunate. I got very lucky the eyelid took the brunt of it.”

While his vision is still a little blurry, Holmes said it’s expected to become sharper in the next few days.

Early in the first period of the Knights 7-4 victory over the Hounds, Holmes blocked a shot in front of the Soo goal with the puck winding up in his skates. London captain Luke Evangelista attempted to lift Holmes’s stick in order to retrieve the puck.

However, “he completely missed my stick and his stick came straight up into my eye,” said the Alliston, Ont., native, who was the Greyhounds first-round (18^th overall) choice in the 2019 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selections draft.

Holmes spoke of how his first thought was he had suffered a cut on his left eyebrow or cheek.

“But as I started skating, I realized I had lost all vision in my left eye,” he said. “Everything went really dark and then really red. That was probably the scariest moment of it all.”

The left side of his forehead went numb, Holmes added.

“And I had no vision until I sat down in the trainer’s room and they had cleared the blood from my eye. I could see people and make out who they were,” he continued. “At that point, there was a bit of relief.”

Holmes spoke of how doctors in attendance at Budweiser Gardens were outstanding in the way they handled the situation. He also praised Greyhounds athletic therapist Julian Cooper.

“Julian stayed really calm – he was unbelievable in those circumstances,” Holmes noted. “I was lucky to have him there.”

The Greyhounds veteran was rushed to University Hospital where he was treated and released.

“It was great to get a late night text message that he was going to be alright,” said Hounds head coach John Dean, who spoke of how concerned he and his staff and the Hounds players were when Holmes was first injured. “We were worried more about Homer than about what was going on in the game.”

Dean and his club is preparing for a Wednesday clash in Saginaw (7:05 p.m.) before returning home to play host to Erie on Sunday (2:07 p.m.).

After being released from hospital, Holmes spent Friday night at a London hotel, as did his parents, Trevor and Mary Ann, and Hounds general manager Kyle Raftis. The Greyhounds, meantime, travelled on to Windsor, where they played the Spitfires on Saturday night.

Saturday morning, doctors closed the eyelid cut with a series of stitches at St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Holmes said he was thankful Mike and Erin O’Rourke, parents of Hounds captain Ryan O’Rourke, drove him to Windsor in order for him to join his teammates.  In the time since he was injured, Holmes has received text messages from friends around the OHL.

As for a timeline to return to the lineup, Holmes spoke of being day-to-day, adding he’ll be able to play “when I feel comfortable” doing so.

In their first meeting this season, the Greyhounds defeated the Spirit 8-4 on Nov. 3 at GFL Memorial Gardens.

After reviewing video of his club’s 4-3 victory in Windsor on Saturday, Dean said the Hounds “are on the cusp of figuring it out. We still look like a team that’s thinking about decisions. It’s not quite natural.”

The coach, whose club takes a 10-6-0-0 mark into the game against the 6-5-1-0 Spirit, said it’s obvious to him “we’re thinking about what we should do, as opposed to it coming naturally with pace.”

Dean also said it’ll get to the point where “it’s instinctive, where we naturally go to good spots and also manage the puck properly.”

Against the Spirit, which plays an aggressive style intent on creating turnovers, “managing the puck is even more critical,” he added.