Referee Steve Kozari Collides With Hayden Fleury (With Replay) 

Kozari’s head really bounces off the ice. Hope he recovers soon.

Those collisions where both skaters are looking away from each other and the hit just happens out of the blue are the worst.

Man, even if you disagree with them as professionals... They're still human, and I think incidents like this remind fans of that. Prayers up for Steve and for his family.

Nothing scarier than having hit head first. Damn.

It’s amazing that this type of crash doesn’t happen more often. Hope he is OK and back on the ice as soon as possible

Man, that was rough. On top of everything else it looked like Fleury nearly fell face first on Kozari's left skate. Thank god that didn't happen.

Thanks Jens and Alyssa. I know you are trying to get these up quickly and appreciate the follow-up video

You go the extra mile for us A.H thanks for that 👍

I can already hear Don Henderson tell Kozari to file a lawsuit... joke aside, even if we often disagree with them, being a ref is a thankless job and I hope he gets a quick recovery

Oh no hope he is okay. Thank you so much for CC 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙌🏼

oh man, 100% an accident, neither one saw each other coming and that's always a recipe for disaster, safe recovery for both involved.

Hoping for a safe and quick recovery, ty for your service

Man that was hard to watch. The way he got hit, and then the fall scared me 😬

Much better video

Scary collision.

That was a scary thing to see, I hope he recovers okay

Damn, head to head then head to ice. Hopefully he recovers soon!

Damn this is rough.. I hope he has a great recovery....

Its a tough situation and its kind of surprising it does not happen more often, both have their eyes on the play and the player does not really expect to run into a ref because expectations are refs are good at avoiding any sort of contact to players or puck. Tunnel vision and the ref has no clue theres even another player behind him

Wishing him a speedy recovery!

Scary stuff. To update he is alert and conscious, expected to make a full recovery 🙏🏻

Oh, Steve...his head...!! 😨😨 That's a gnarly one. Get better Steve.

jesus, he took a big hit ... his body went into the fencing pose, that's scary

Praying he fully recovers 🙏

Damn looks like he got a stinger hope hes ok

Clean hit, we need more of this...

Saw this live and it was pretty scary, nobody saw what happened we just heard the whistle blow and the ref looked like he was dead for a minute with Fleury also shaken up. I know it was a head injury but officials don’t have enough padding to brace for unexpected collisions with players.

Both were caught watching the puck, nasty unexpected collision. :/ Hope he recovers well

That’s something you NEVER want to see happen. Thank goodness he regained consciousness, and prayers for a full recovery. Super scary.

Blind side didn't see it coming makes that contact as dangerous as it gets hope he recovers

Man, that helmet did its job today x10

Too many refs on the ice today. Three was plenty and they were slower and smaller back then. Refs are always in the way today. Surely replays can help declutter the ice. For fights just dress a fourth (or third and fourth) and have them monitor from the penalty box and jump in if needed.

GET WELL SOON STEVE KOZARI.

Did they continue or stop the game?

I think it’s fair to say that being a ref in hockey is tougher than being a ref in any other sport, simply because of the fact that you have to be on skates, and constantly keep your head on a swivel. Football (not soccer) is probably a distant second, especially when you’re the ref standing right in the middle of the field catching penalties before the play, as well as the sideline judge, who might get in the way of the players running out of bounds.

We take so much for granted. Hope they both recover 100%.

Just was at the bar and saw a blurb about a ref getting hit. He's doing alright I believe. I came here to see what happened

Just heard about this, knew Jens95 had it. Happy we don't see something like this more often, tough to see the arms outstretched and stiff like that.

all the best for this ref. it’s a terrifying thing to hit your head first

Hope he recovers well , on a side note it should never went to 4 officials , they end up in the play way too much since the change imo .

Wow. Some mean comments here.

Hard collision - hope everyone is ok

I hope he’s ok.

Damn.... hope he's OK....

Prayers going out for both men. Who is old enough to remember when players and refs did not wear helmets? 😳

Surprised a ref didn't drop the gloves over that hit.

I’m a little surprised the ref would be in the middle of the ice like that, not even close to the boards- anyone know if that’s typical for the ref trailing the play?

🙏

0:30 frig, that’s hard to watch. Definitely a TBI.

I hope he is ok

Godspeed to that referee on his recovery. Freak accident, both didn’t see each other. Bad break.

Their heads collided and then him hitting the ice. Hope all are OK.

Marchand should get 5 games for this.

STRAIGHT ROCKED SON!!!

the thumbnail killed me LMAOOOOOOOO

Huge hit, feel better ref

NHL is a family, just like when the Bills player almost died on the field! It's a violent sport but in the end nobody wants to see anything like that even though he's not a player! Hope he gets better soon!!

He was trying to tap his thumb to his fingers in sequence in the close-up. He wasn't succeeding.

sums up nhl officials these days, not paying attention

Guarantee the guy is 100% fine and will be reffing his next scheduled shift!

Ouch, they thwacked noggins pretty good...

That was some scary 💩

hopefully fleurys ok

Keep yer head up

Maybe its past time to upgrade the helmets they wear to prevent head injuries? They do have them with mini air bags that inflate on any hard contact. But of course they cost more then regular helmets. So how much is a life worth? How many millions do these league'sNHL take in each year and they can't spend some more money on safety?

One of those freak things. Here's hoping for a full recovery

Kozari didn't look. Yikes. Hope he's ok.

What’s he doing in the middle of the ice ????

fleury should not be blamed, unintentional collision and why would the ref be at center ice during a turnover

Ice bone,crowd love🗿

Why was he moving through the middle of the ice in the first place though? Attacking zone ref didn’t switch sides or anything.

End zone?

Looks like their helmets collided also

For all officials in this comment section, please I cannot stress it enough: this is why we have the danger zone, stay along the boards and keep your head on a swivel because these horrible things can happen.

This will result in a 10 game suspension for Tom Wilson.

😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬 i hope he is ok

And that is why you wear a helmet!

Daaaaaaaaaamn! What a hit. Top ten this year for sure.

Fewf he cant do anymore oiler games this year

Karma for breaking up a chance to see a goalie fight last year

Reminder : hockey players are BIG. Freaky accident. But it does happen once per 1 year approx.

to be honest with u wtf was that ref doing.... u arent ever suppose to be in the dots

Glad he's gonna be ok, but only 1 long shot of it, the league is happy to show 12 angles and closeups of players getting put in the hospital but a ref is involved nope, annoys me. (Hypocrisy of it more than anything else)

Where's the game misconduct for interference smh missed call by his fellow refs, terrible

Damn, that’s crazy lil bro 😮 .

What the hell is he doing in the middle of the rink you never ever go there. Fast recovery Steve.

embellishing like crazy

To think that refs used to not wear helmets..he would be dead now!

Definitely a clean hit

Thanks a big body hitting a smaller man with minimal padding. Hate to see it hoping for the best ❤ officials do not get enough credit at all levels

Gotta keep your head up

He is a little high up in the play there. I’m no pro ref but have reffed hockey at most minor levels. You can see the other ref in the bottom right half wall as the play is being transitioned up . Kozari should probably be just behind the other linesman near TB bench. Clearly this was a freak accident and Fleury just wasn’t expecting him there. At the end of the day this is the NHL, guys are skating 20+ mph.. and mistakes happen. Hopefully his injury is nothing major.

What the hell was the Tampa player looking at he's skating forward and skating right towards the direction of where the puck is. What was he looking at?

Ahh fuck. Get well soon!

Greasy team

Ooh jeez that’s scary to watch. Cringe worthy. Like honestly. Hope he’s ok.

Ahhh

Whata fluke of an accident Wrong place at the wrong time :/

So helpful to have a young lady--not some guy who actually played in the NHL or reffed NHL games--explaining what happened so clearly and gently and nicely.

Did the referee get a delay-of-game penalty?