Barons defenseman Stafford recovers from attack with stick

CLEVELAND (AP) -- A minor league hockey player viciously attacked by an opponent during an AHL playoff game hopes to resume playing soon.
Cleveland Barons defenseman Garrett Stafford watched his team lose 3-1 and get eliminated in six games by the Hamilton Bulldogs on Sunday, two days after forward Alexander Perezhogin hit him on the head with a two-handed stick-swinging attack.
"We were surprised when he came into the locker room before the game," Barons captain Tavis Hansen said. "It was very emotional."
Stafford did not meet with the media and sat in a team suite. He issued a written statement before the game.
"I am just trying to recover and regain my strength, so that hopefully I will be able to return to playing hockey in the near future," the statement said.
Barons coach Ron Sommer said he hoped that Stafford, 24, who had 12 goals and 34 assists in his first professional season and played in the AHL's all-star game, would be able to continue his career.
"You take an inch or two here or there and he might not be with us today," Sommer said. "When you see a guy going into seizures on the ice, it makes the game of hockey trivial."
Hansen said Barons players had a meeting before Game 6 and decided to play hard, but clean.
"It would have been easy to take justice into our hands and run at their little players," Hansen said. "The best way we could have gotten back at them was to win. We stepped it up for Garrett, but didn't quite get it done."