Rangers' Filip Chytil suffers freak injury during World Championship

New York Rangers forward Filip Chytil made the call to head overseas to represent his native Czechia in the IIHF World Championship upon the conclusion of New York's season at the hands of the New Jersey Devils. However, he's now back home resting after suffering a freak injury during his team's May 14 matchup against Kazakhstan in Riga, Latvia.

He took a stick to the face and suffered a fractured cheekbone, ending his tournament. 

He would write the following on his Instagram page: 

“After being eliminated from this year’s Play-offs, which still annoys me about how it turned out, I did not hesitate to join the national team. I believed that I could help the team to achieve one of the medals after a year, preferably the most valuable one.

“I’m very sad that I only managed to play one full match and one third of the next one. I was hoping that the injury I suffered wasn’t so serious and I could continue the tournament further. I have done my best to get back into the game but unfortunately it got to a point where I knew it can’t go anymore.

“Nevertheless, thank you all for your support and I continue to cheer for the guys!”

Chytil would score 22 goals with 23 assists for the Rangers this season, and was rewarded with a four year contract extension this past March.