Player dreams dashed, former Spitfire takes head coach job for Flint Firebirds

A career-ending injury took a former hockey player off the ice — so he's found a home behind the bench.

Former Windsor Spitfire Eric Wellwood is the new head coach of the Flint Firebirds in the Ontario Hockey League. 

After winning back-to-back Memorial Cups with the Spitfires in 2009 and 2010, Wellwood was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers. He made his NHL debut in 2011. 

Wellwood was playing for Philadelphia's American Hockey League team when he slid into the boards and sliced four tendons and an artery in his ankle — with his own skate. 

"Everything seemed very real," said Wellwood. He got up and skated to the bench and only realized how injured he was when a teammate pointed out the blood. 

"Then panic starts to set in."

Hockey Night in Canada Radio9:44Eric Wellwood: Retires after gruesome skate cut

Wellwood was recently named Oshawa Generals assistant coach. He talks about his decision to retire.

Wellwood got into the ambulance and paramedics pinched his artery closed to stop the blood loss.He was told he didn't have much longer before he bled out.

A specialist gave Wellwood only a 70 per cent chance of ever walking again. That's when he realized hockey had to take a back burner.

"Now it's about walking again," said Wellwood. He retired at age 24, about a year after the accident. Doctors allowed him to skate again, but he'd never get paid to skate again.

"It wasn't as tough as maybe people expect me to say," said Wellwood when asked what the decision to retire felt like. "I was always a kid that looked at the glass half full. I knew there was going to be other avenues in my life I could pursue."

Those avenues ended up still being in the hockey world.

Wellwood spent two years as an assistant coach in Ottawa and then was the assistant coach for the Firebirds. 

"I was just kind of getting my thoughts together for what I wanted to pursue, and the opportunity arose," said Wellwood. 

Then he took a year off as an angel investor for HeadCheck Health — a concussion management software. During that time, he helped out with the University of Windsor Lancers hockey team "just to stay in the sport." He also applied to start classes at the university next semester, having never gone to school before.

Now he's the youngest coach in the OHL. 

"It's a lot of responsibility. I feel like I have to grow up a lot faster," said Wellwood. "You have a lot of these kids' dreams in your hands. I want them to succeed at the highest level they can."