A broken wrist won't keep this hockey player/cop down

A little thing like a wrist broken in three places isn't going to get a good hockey player down. Or a good cop, for that matter.

Greeley Police Detective Mike Prill has been a cop for 21 years, but played hockey when he was growing up in Minnesota. Naturally, when the week's Colorado Police a Fire Games rolled around into Greeley last week, Prill signed up for the two types of hockey -- ice and in-line.

It was in in-line hockey where the good and the bad happened. The team from northern Colorado won the gold medal in in-line hockey, then silver in ice hockey. And Prill came out of it with a broken wrist.

"It was the in-line championship game, and one of the other team's players cut my legs out from under me," Prill said, shaking his head. "I went down on the floor, twisting my wrist under my hockey stick.

Prill had to sit on the bench for a few minutes, but then brought himself back into the action. "I thought I'd just sprained my wrist." Later, he'd learn a bone in the wrist was broken in three places. "But I went back in, because I couldn't let the other team think they'd beaten me."

He stayed in only a few minutes, until the other team started aiming its blows toward his left wrist.

So, Prill will be in a cast for a few weeks. But his team has a gold medal. A police detective, Prill won't be on the street for awhile anyway. He has two murder trials coming up, in which he is the advising officer.

Source: http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070805/NEWS/108040117