Mark Drygas said he has never been prouder of his son.
"I've been proud of my son many different times throughout the years, but I've never been more proud of him than right now," he said.
His son, Alaska-Fairbanks defenseman Erik Drygas, is in intensive care at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital after being partially paralyzed in a freak accident in practice last Monday.
Drygas is recovering from surgery that removed bone fragments and repaired damage to his vertebrae.
The 20-year-old sophomore, who is a native of Fairbanks, Alaska, injured the fifth cervical vertebra of his neck. A few hours into practice, he crashed head-first into the boards while going after a puck in the corner of Carlson Center during a drill.
Drygas was participating in a power-play drill when two of his teammates skated toward him from the corners. It is unclear exactly how the collision occurred, but Drygas crossed sticks with a player, tried to make a quick move to escape the jam and fell forward. He went down on his knees and hit the top of his head into the upper boards.
He never lost consciousness but was in a lot of pain and said he couldn't feel anything below his chest.
Drygas was rushed to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where X-rays showed the vertebra was broken in several pieces. There was a lot of swelling in his neck, so the doctors decided to wait until the swelling died down instead of performing immediate surgery.
Doctors opted to perform the surgery on Wednesday, and the operation took over six hours.
"The operation went extremely well," Alaska-Fairbanks spokesperson Scott Roselius said. "(The physicians) are very happy. There were no complications as far as the operation."
Surgeons removed bone fragments from the injured vertebra and grafted bone from Drygas' hip to help stabilize the damaged vertebra.
The injury was eerily similar to that of Boston University's Travis Roy, who fractured the fourth cervical vertebra after slamming head-first into the boards a little over a year ago. Roy is still completely paralyzed.
Right now, Drygas is in a wait-and-see situation. His parents are researching possible spinal cord processes for the future. In the next couple of weeks, they will decide what spinal injury rehabilitation center Drygas will be sent to. The Drygas' are leaning toward one in Denver, Colo.
For Drygas, who was able to move his right index finger and use his biceps muscles to make curling motions, the situation is day-to-day, sometimes hour-by-hour.
"He is in good spirits," Mark Drygas said. "But it goes in stages."
Soon after the injury, cards and get-well messages were flowing in from the Fairbanks community, the state of Alaska and well-wishers across the country.
Teammates and coaches have visited often, and Drygas has been asking how practice has been going and how the team has been doing.
Last weekend, the Nanooks had their first series of the the season, a home-and-home affair with rival Alaska-Anchorage. The Nanooks lost both highly-emotional games.
Alaska-Fairbanks coach Dave Laurion, who was on the other side of the ice when the injury occurred, knew his players had their minds on something else during the weekend's games. All week long, it's been tough on DrygasÕ teammates.
"Everyone goes through stages of denial, shock, wanting to know why it happened," Laurion said. "It's really hard because there is no one to blame other than fate and bad luck."
Last Tuesday night, Drygas spoke on the telephone with Roy and Erik's parents spoke with Roy's parents.
Laurion also talked to Boston University coach Jackie Parker and received advice on how to go about the season in tough times.
"(Parker said) to consider Drygas as still being part of the team," Laurion said. "That helps to push on."