PROFILE
CLINT
T O R FA S O N
IN THE BLINK
OF AN EYE
BY CARTER BROOKS
Photos by James Carey Lauder
1 1 6 | G AME O N | D EC EM BER 2017
In hockey, bad things can
happen in the blink of an eye.
Just ask Arborg Ice Dawgs’
forward Clint Torfason.
“It was Game 3 of the
KJHL finals and we were
up 2-1 in the third period,”
Torfason said. “My shift was
coming to an end so I went
to dump the puck in. Right
before I could turn around
and go for my change, a stick
came up from my blindside
and caught me right in the
mouth. At first I thought that
every single tooth was gone,
as my face felt completely
numb. I recall spitting out a
couple teeth right away and
just racing over to the trainer,
with my face gushing blood.”
Fast forward a handful of
months and you will find the
21-year-old Ice Dawgs’ leading
scorer missing five teeth,
recovering from a broken jaw,
and reeling at the fact that
his upcoming medical bills (in
excess of $30,000) will not be
covered through his insurance.
“It was Saturday night
in the Interlake, so there
really weren’t many options,”
Torfason reflected. “I had my
lip stitched up, then the next
morning my dentist came in
– on an emergency basis – to
pull the rest of my shattered
teeth out. I will have some
bone grafting done at the end
of this season, so nothing is
set in stone as to how much
we are owing until we get that
final bill. Because this has
been going on for months,
we have been preparing
for the worst, cost-wise.”
That’s right – Torfason
is still playing. In fact, he
didn’t even miss a game with
his gruesome mouth injury,
coming back to play in Games
4, 5 and 6, as his Ice Dawgs
eventually lost to the Peguis
Juniors in the 2017 Keystone
Junior Hockey League finals.
So far in this 2017-18 season,
Torfason is leading his team
in scoring, and producing
at a point-and-a-half per
game rate. Not bad for a guy
who nearly lost his face.
“My dentist gave me T3s,
but I knew that if I took those
I would be out of commission
for a good week,” Torfason
said. “I was hurting for about
a day after the teeth were
pulled, but after that it wasn’t
really all that sore. But I have
to tell you, I had never eaten
as many mashed potatoes in
my life as I did in the week
following the injury. It was just
atrocious how many mashed
potatoes I was eating. That
was honestly my diet through
the rest of the finals – mashed
potatoes and smoothies.”
Although Torfason was,
in fact, playing hockey and
wearing a mouthguard at the
time of the incident, Manitoba
Healthcare deemed the injury
to be a ‘cosmetic dental
injury’, something in which
the Torfasons’ insurance