The U.S. and Canadian women's hockey teams squared off for a spirited preliminary game at the 2022 Winter Olympics late Monday night, and the action was pretty incredible. There were six total goals scored, several lead changes and star power as far as the eye can see.
One of the stars playing in the tilt was U.S. forward Amanda Kessel, who played a key role for her country in its gold medal victory at the PyeongChang Olympics in 2018.
The three-time Olympian did some serious damage to the Canada defense Monday night, finishing the game with a beautiful assist on the Americans' second goal of the night.
But that's not the only damage she dished out.
She also sliced a referee's face in half!
Early in the second period of her squad's clash against the Canadians, Kessel swung her stick erratically behind the Canada net and caught referee Cianna Lieffers — a Canada native from Saskatchewan — directly in the face.
Lieffers was bleeding considerably from her face and headed straight to the locker room at the following stoppage of play. Luckily, she ended up returning to the game wearing a bandage over the site of impact.
SEE MORE: Referee bloodied by stick from U.S. forward Amanda Kessel
Wow. Pretty gnarly stuff.
While Lieffers was able to finish refereeing the game, it sounds like Kessel's stick left a pretty nasty mark on her kisser. Per PHF broadcaster Erica L. Ayala, Lieffers evidently received two stitches to repair the cut.
View social media post: https://twitter.com/elindsay08/status/1490973162699329538?s=21
Hockey players are known for being rather hardy, but it turns out referees are pretty tough cookies as well.