Thread: Danton Saves a Life

Mike Danton uses prison skills to save teammate - ESPN

STOCKHOLM -- Former NHL player Mike Danton was sent to prison for plotting to take a life. In his return to professional hockey, the skills he learned while incarcerated may well have saved one.



Danton, who received first-aid training while incarcerated, sprung into action during a game and quite possibly saved the life of a teammate.


Danton, who served a five-year jail term for conspiracy to commit murder, was playing in his first game with Swedish third-division club Ore on Sunday when his linemate Marcus Bengtsson hit his head on the ice after a hard hit and started convulsing.

Using the first-aid training he received in prison, Danton dropped to the ice as well, waited for Bengtsson's jaw to unclench and then shoved his hand into his teammate's mouth to stop him from choking on his own tongue.

Danton was convicted in a failed murder-for-hire plot in 2004, and wrote on his blog that "one of the luxuries" of his jail stint was the chance to become a certified first-aid responder.

"I have seen seizures before. In prison, druggies would come in off the streets and have withdrawals," he wrote. "So, when the convulsions did not (stop) after a couple of minutes, I knew something was wrong."

After Danton stopped the choking, other teammates helped him put the 21-year-old Bengtsson on his side before an ambulance arrived and took him to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a concussion and kept overnight.

Kid has done everything right since being released from prison. If you have been following the story you know it was a pretty horrible one. I don't know if that forgives the sins of his past, but it is good to see that he just keeps doing the right thing. I wish him well.

Who says prison isn't good for you?

Mike Danton uses prison skills to save teammate - ESPN

why did this get moved to Reality? Danton is a former NHL'r so I think this belongs more in the NHL talk forum.

Don't know. When I merged the threads, it was supposed to go into the first one created. I will move back to NHL talk.

Now it's in NHL talk!

a little good karma can go a long way.

Well....he was trying to kill his agent.

Given the Doughty situation, I could forgive him....

Originally Posted by mitchrock

Don't know. When I merged the threads, it was supposed to go into the first one created. I will move back to NHL talk.

Sorry Mitchy...this move has my nerves shot to hell. I owe you a banana daquiri brother...

Originally Posted by darthrob13

Well....he was trying to kill his agent.

Given the Doughty situation, I could forgive him....

That was what I always thought too, until this article:

Danton was sentenced to 7½ years in prison after pleading guilty in a plot that prosecutors said targeted David Frost, Danton's former junior coach who went on to become his mentor and agent. However, he was released on parole in 2009 after admitting that the intended target had actually been his father, Steve Jefferson.

don't know if he just said that because thats what someone on the parole board wanted to hear or not, but it was an interesting tidbit of info.