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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, May 15, 2015 | 8 Former NHL goalie shares his story in The Crazy Game by Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver Staff It's obvious why there aren't many books where the author details their own suicide. When Clint Malarchuk pointed a gun to his chin and fired a bullet through the roof of his mouth, he couldn't have imagined he would be writing about it six years later. Had the bullet, fired from the barrel of his gun at more than 400 miles per hour, travelled just a few more millimetres, Malarchuk would have died that day in October 2008. Former teammates would have wondered how the team joker could have taken his own life. Even his wife Joanie, who knew of his struggles with mental illness, would have never really known why he pulled the trigger right in front of her. "It's amazing I'm alive," Malarchuk says. The bullet lodged in his forehead, near his right eye and the thinnest of margins from his brain, is still there as he talks to the audience at the Canadian Mental Health Association's (CMHA) Halton Region Branch speaker's event as part of Mental Health Week activities. Most of the people in the audience know how close Malarchuk came to death. But this is not the story they know -- or least didn't until recently. · · · · Malarchuk played 10 seasons in the NHL, winning 141 games with the Quebec Nordiques, Washington Capitals and Buffalo Sabres. The story they know -- "my claim to fame," the Grande Prairie, Alb. native calls it -- happened nearly two decades earlier. It's one that is easily found on YouTube, provided the sight of blood doesn't make you queasy. Malarchuk was in net for the Sabres for a game Do you want to get BACK TO HEALTH? ...Live without pain or suffering? ...Live a life with optimal Physical and Mental/Emotional Performance? Then call us TODAY to schedule a FREE Wellness consultation and start THRIVING instead of just SURVIVING! Grab a nutritious breakfast or lunch at our What's Fresh Eatery. Bring ad in for free shake. Former NHL goalie Clint Malarchuk, author of The Crazy Game, was the guest speaker at a Canadian Mental Health dinner at the Harbour Banquet Centre last week, during Mental Health Awareness Week. | photo by Graham Paine ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog or facebook.com/HaltonPhotog) against the St. Louis Blues on March 22, 1989. Late in the first period, the Blues' Steve Tuttle drove toward the net and Buffalo defenceman Uwe Krupp tried to tie him up. As they reached the crease, they collided with Malarchuk. Tuttle's skate came up and sliced across the right side of the goalie's neck. Malarchuk fell to his knees and grabbed his throat. "A stream gushed out with every beat of my heart," he describes in his book. "It's an artery. I grabbed my neck, trying to keep the blood in, but it rushed between my fingers. It just kept coming." Buffalo trainer Jim Pizzutelli was at Malarchuk's side within 10 seconds. He pressed hard on the goalie's throat, occasionally releasing the pressure to allow him to catch a breath. Malarchuk was so sure he wasn't going to make it, he told the team's equipment manager to call his mom to let her know he loved her. At the hospital, it took surgeons 90 minutes and 300 stitches to close the wound. The skate blade had missed his internal carotid artery, and a certain death, by a millimetre. Malarchuk checked himself out of the hospital see Former on p.11 NOW OPEN! DIAMOND Katrina Dollano TCM Practitioner Charleston Dollano Dr. Ron McAlister Executive Chef Chiropractor What's Good...? It is the fusion of balanced nutrition, mind and body with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), food cures, Chinese Herbal Medicine, Acupuncture and Chiropractic. ...That's Wellness by Design 100% NATURAL INGREDIENTS M a D e to FRESH & MaDe DELICIOUS NaChoS FreSh orDer BURRITOS 289-837-0111 thehabanero.ca 125 Cross Ave., Oakville · www.whatsgoodwellness.ca · 905.845.5775 Located Across the Street from Sheridan College on Trafalgar Rd. 1289 Marlborough Court, oakville Need To Sell An Older Home? Call Us First! MA XIMIZE YOUR SELLING PRICE WITH E A SY TRIED & TRUE SOLUTIONS Often, the right inexpensive changes can make all the difference. Let us show you how! · Learn which reno's are the most profitable! · Avoid wasting your time & money. · 16+ years of experience. · 100's of homes sold. B O O K A F R E E C O N S U LTAT I O N Cory Martin BROKER Leo, Pre-Kindergarten. Current dreamer, future global visionary. Glenn Martin BROKER OF RECORD Hillfield Strathallan College is an independent day school for Montessori Toddler and Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12. MARTIN GROUP 905-334-9195 Join us this summer! Visit www.hsc.on.ca to learn about our camp opportunities.