Cole Hutson Says He Was 'Knocked Out Cold' After being Struck In Back Of Head With Puck, Could Play In World Juniors QF

Washington Capitals prospect Cole Hutson took a big step in his recovery to open the New Year, as he skated as a full participant in Team USA's practice ahead of their quarterfinal matchup against Finland at the World Junior Championship.

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In Saturday's game against Switzerland, Hutson was skating in the defensive zone and had his back turned tot he play when a point shot from Gian Meier struck him in the back of the head. The 19-year-old went down instantly and was on the ice for several minutes before being placed on a backboard and taken off on a stretcher.

"It was terrible. You don't want that to happen to anyone," Hutson told NHL.com's Mike Morreale. "I just got knocked out cold and woke up and for a few minutes, I couldn't move anything on my body, so it's never a good feeling when you wake up after you get knocked out so I was obviously terrified and just praying that I was healthy again."

The Boston University sophomore also told Morreale that he didn't fully regain consciousness until he was being taken off the ice and put into the ambulance. Though he couldn't move at first, he was able to eventually squeeze teammate Cole Eiserman's hand and then move his extremities.

Hutson was examined at an area hospital and discharged the same night before returning to the rink to be with his teammates. He has since been working toward returning.

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Prior to his injury, Hutson led all Americans in ice time and had two assists and a plus/minus rating of plus-5 to open the tournament. Now, Team USA is waiting to see if he can play come Friday.

""I feel pretty good just kind of waiting it out to see if I'm fully ready to come back," Hutson said to Morreale. "Obviously, a pretty scary situation so just want to make sure I feel 100 percent before making the jump back into play."