NHL Coach Suffers Facial Fractures, Forced to Miss Road Trip After Taking Nasty Hit From Errant Puck
Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar suffered facial fractures after being struck by an errant puck during a recent game.
Screenshot Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar suffered facial fractures after an errant puck struck the side of his head during a recent game. The heart-stopping moment came as the Avalanche hosted the Las Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night. Early in the third period of the game, Knights winger Keegan Kolesar and Avalanche center Jack Drury were fighting for the puck near the Avalanche bench.
Kolesar slapped the puck up into the air, and it ended up hitting Bednar squarely in the face. Avalanche players ducked to avoid the puck, then quickly turned around when their coach hunched over in pain. There was a brief pause in the action as training staff escorted Bednar to the locker room.
He left the bench holding a towel over his face. Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar caught a stray puck in the head, helped straight to the locker room Yikes #Denver7 pic. twitter.
com/xzEC5N3dyx — Nick Rothschild (@nick_rothschild) April 12, 2026 Here's an alternate angle of Jared Bednar's injury, where he took a puck to the face. Ouch. #goavsgo pic.