Crawford has emergency appendectomy
(Jared Earle/Flickr)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford underwent an emergency appendectomy at a local hospital on Saturday, forcing him to miss his scheduled start against the Philadelphia Flyers.
"Corey presented this morning with acute appendicitis," Blackhawks head team physician Dr. Michael Terry said in a statement released by the team. ". We are anticipating a full recovery and return to play. We will provide details regarding the timeline of his return after we have more information about the surgery."
Crawford, 31, led the Blackhawks to Stanley Cups in 2013 and 2015. Before Saturday he had started in 20 of the Blackhawks' 25 games, going 12-6-2 with a 2.27 goals-against average, .927 save percentage and two shutouts, ranking second among NHL goalies in wins.
With Crawford unavailable, the Blackhawks inserted backup Scott Darling as their starter against the Flyers and signed 23-year-old Eric Semorski to an amateur tryout contract. Semorski is from Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania and currently lives in Philadelphia. He was a goaltender for the Temple University club team and played for the Empire Junior Hockey League's Jersey Wildcats in 2010-11.