Errant puck sends Predators GM Poile to hospital

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Nashville Predators general manager David Poile was hit in the head with a puck at the team's morning skate Thursday prior to the game against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center.

Poile, who will serve as GM of the United States Olympic Team next week at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, was taken from the locker room on a stretcher by paramedics and transported to the hospital.

Poile appeared to be groggy with a bloody nose and a black eye, but was conscious and able to walk to the stretcher with some help.

A statement released by the team said Poile "will remain in the hospital overnight for observation and evaluation, and further information will be released as it becomes available."

Predators coach Barry Trotz said Poile was standing in the tunnel leading to the bench when a puck took a funny bounce off the ice, caught the top of a stick blade and went down the tunnel, striking Poile flush.

"It was above the eye, so hopefully there's no damage to the eye, that's the first thing you worry about," Trotz said. "It was a rocket that came across, and that's the danger of being in that tunnel."

The Predators also announced that television broadcaster Pete Weber underwent a successful heart procedure Thursday morning in a St. Paul hospital.

"He is resting comfortably and will remain in the hospital recovering for the next couple days before returning to Nashville. He will miss tonight’s (at Minnesota) and Saturday’s (vs. Anaheim) Predators’ games," the statement said.