BOSTON — Like a lot of people at Enterprise Center on May 15, Tracy Dunn didn’t see the puck that struck her son, Vince, square in the face. Neither did she see him stagger to the Blues’ bench, nor stumble through the gate to get off the ice.
Tracy and her husband, John, made the 14-hour drive from Lindsay, Ontario, to St. Louis for Game 3 of the Western Conference finals and arrived with just enough time to unpack at the hotel and settle into their seats in Section 122 when a shot off the stick of San Jose Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon hit Dunn 11 minutes into the first period.
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“We couldn’t really see because we were behind the goalie,” Tracy said. “I didn’t really know until I saw the replays. We went right down and my husband was able to see him in the dressing room and bring some reports out to us. At the time, I might have put myself into nurse mode instead of mom mode.”
Dunn gets hit in the face with a shot.
He went straight to the room. pic.twitter.com/3WSXCmu1L0
— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) May 16, 2019
A nurse since 1992, Tracy left the response up to the Blues, whose team physician and dentist saw extreme damage in Dunn’s mouth, including several rearranged teeth. Though his jaw wasn’t broken, there was word of a cracked bone in his face, but that was never confirmed. It is believed he was also suffering from concussion symptoms.
Dunn doesn’t recall any details of the play, just that “it was just kind of a scary moment,” he said. “I just saw there was blood coming out of my mouth, and from there, it was kind of a blur.”
The 22-year-old defenseman was transported to Barnes-Jewish Hospital before the Blues’ 5-4 overtime loss to the Sharks ended at 10:02 p.m.
“It was very quick,” said Tracy, who followed along to the hospital. “We watched the third period and overtime, when there was that kind of questionable call.”
The controversial hand pass that resulted in the game-winning goal by San Jose’s Erik Karlsson in overtime, however, didn’t stop about 15 or so Blues players from walking into Dunn’s hospital room late that night.
“It was nice to have the guys visit me after that tough loss,” Dunn said. “They have families, so I’m sure their kids were tired, but I’d say about 80 percent of the guys were in the room and the other 20 (percent) sent me a text. For them to come see me when they’ve got another game to look forward to, it was really a special feeling for me.”
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The following is a timeline of Dunn’s rapid road to recovery, one that had him back in the Blues’ lineup for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final against Boston on Monday, just 19 days after the traumatic injury. He had an assist in a 4-2 win over the Bruins, tying the best-of-seven series at two games apiece.
Dunn slept in Boston on Wednesday, preparing for Game 5 at TD Garden on Thursday, but three weeks ago, he spent the night at the hospital in St. Louis with his mom.
“They gave me pillows, blankets,” she said. “It was like a hotel.”
The next day, May 16, Dunn underwent oral surgery. The operation was in the morning and by midday, he and his family were back at his home. He declined to say much about the specifics of the procedure, which is only preliminary because more work will be required after the season.
“There’s a lot of things going on with my face right now; it’s not a pretty scene in there,” he said. “There’s lots of damage and lots of temporary fixing. No (missing teeth), just wires and stuff like that. It’s going to be a long process. Just got to wait for everything to kind of heal. I got fixed up as much as they can do for the time being.”
Tracy was now in nurse and mom mode.
“I tried to keep him comfortable,” she said. “Right away, we were trying to get him fed and put any kind of nourishment in him. I went to the grocery store and bought whatever I could. We bought liquid yogurts and rice pudding. I never realized how much he liked rice pudding, but we got rice pudding and chocolate pudding into him. I made him soup with bone marrow to keep his protein up. We mashed potatoes and got the highest-end meat we could get. Anything he wanted, we made sure he got.”
Vince and Tracy Dunn. (Family photo)
It was a crucial time because while Dunn and others were thinking about his well-being, not when he’d be back on ice, the 6-foot, 203-pound defenseman knew that if he were to return this season, he couldn’t afford to lose much stamina.
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“You try not to set a timeline and try not to put things in the future into your head,” he said. “You’ve kind of just got to take it day by day. But as much as I could get into me, the better. I didn’t want to lose too much weight.”
The fact that Dunn had his mom in St. Louis helped make the recovery much more bearable.
“She’s been everything since Day 1 for me, taking me to practices and things like that,” he said. “As much as I can, I play for her, so it was very special for her to be here.”
Dunn woke up May 17, the day of Game 4 against the Sharks, and Tracy couldn’t believe what she saw.
“We got him up in the morning, and he was brushing his teeth,” she said.
The Blues’ oral surgeon wanted to see Dunn that day at Enterprise Center, so he told Tracy that he was going to the rink.
“Later, he texted me, ‘Mom, I’m staying for the game. I want to be with the boys,’” Tracy said. “I thought to myself, that’s the best pain relief ever to just be with the guys — their inspiration, their encouragement, their high-fives and their belief behind him.”
The Blues won 2-1 that night, and four days later, they clinched the conference championship. Wearing a suit, Dunn celebrated with the team on the bench.
A Vince Dunn sighting … pic.twitter.com/gYf9nBLOJz
— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) May 22, 2019
By then, Tracy and John had returned home to Ontario, and that’s when the incident finally felt like reality for her.
“When we thought that maybe we had got him through the worst, it kind of hit me,” she said. “It was just another example of how tough that kid is. We’ve been through a lot in his hockey career, and this is a testament to who he is — very courageous and very brave.”
Tracy said, too, that she thought a lot about the care her son received, both from the hospital and the Blues.
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“It was exceptional, left nothing to be desired,” she said. “The team physician, the team dentist, oral surgeon, trainers, security, the coach and (general manager Doug Armstrong) were top-notch. It was inspiring. It gave me a lot of peace that if I wasn’t there, all of the support that would be there for him. We’re so grateful that it could have been a lot worse than it was.”
But Dunn wasn’t out of the woods yet. Wearing a full face shield, he resumed skating on his own the next day, May 22. He did some off-ice workouts and joined the team for a few practices but wasn’t a regular participant. He sat out Games 1 and 2 in Boston, then spoke for the first time since his injury on May 31, the day prior to Game 3 in St. Louis.
“It’s hard to say right now,” Dunn said about a timetable for his return. “It’s obviously a whole other level right now in the finals, and when I come back, I want to make sure I was the player that I was when I came out. I think the guys are doing a great job right now. Our (defensemen) are playing great, our team’s playing great, so that’s all that really matters to me.”
Pat Maroon, one of the players who visited Dunn in the hospital, said, “You never want to see a guy go down, especially a guy you’ve been battling with all year, especially at a crucial time of the year.”
Dunn’s parents headed back to St. Louis, as they had done in the three previous series, but they still didn’t know if he would suit up for his first Stanley Cup final game. He missed Game 3, a 7-2 victory for Boston.
“Whether he was playing or not, we were coming to support him and to support the team because this is a team game,” Tracy said.
Tracy went to the gift shop and purchased a commemorative plaque with a replica ticket from the city’s first Stanley Cup final game in 49 years. There were 5,000 copies of the limited-edition series, and she wondered if she could get No. 29, Dunn’s jersey number.
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“I said, ‘I would give anything,’” she said. “They’re so great in the gift shop. They said, ‘I’ll find it.’”
The commemorative plaque Tracy Dunn purchased with her son Vince’s jersey number.
Meanwhile, Dunn was preparing to play in Game 4. By then, he had shed his full face shield and was only wearing a visor.
“It’s not easy to see with that thing on,” Dunn said. “I just kind of came to the conclusion that if a puck is going to hit me, it’s going to hurt, (but) I’d rather just sacrifice my face for better vision out there. It’s a fast game, (so) as easy as I can to make it on myself, that’s what I’ve got to do. I want to be comfortable.”
The only thing holding him back at this point was his timing on the ice.
“Being away from the game for so long takes a toll on you,” Dunn said. “Practice helps, but if you’re not feeling great in practices, you’re definitely not going to feel great in the game. I’m just kind of waiting for that day.”
The pressure of making a decision whether to play is difficult enough in the regular season, let alone a first Stanley Cup final game.
“As long as I can remember, I’ve been watching ‘Hockey Night in Canada,’” Dunn said. “Don Cherry has been someone that I’ve always watched as a young kid. To see the Canadian teams in the playoffs, it’s something that’s very exciting for me when I was younger. As long as I can remember playing hockey, it’s been a dream of mine.”
It finally came on Monday morning. Tracy received two messages.
“About 9 a.m., it was like bang-bang,” she said. “The manager of the gift shop texted me and said, ‘We found No. 29.’ The next text I got was Vince saying, ‘I’m playing.’”

After sending the text to his mom, Dunn waited for her response.
“She just said, ‘Love you!’” he said. “It was a lot of excitement, a lot of emotion for the first one. But my family being patient with me helped, not getting me too overexcited, just being there when I needed it.”
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In fact, since returning to St. Louis late last week, Tracy said she hasn’t asked Dunn much about his mouth.
“When I saw him on Friday, I couldn’t believe the difference (in his overall progress) from when I left him a couple of weeks ago,” she said. “But your teeth are a pretty sensitive issue since they’re basically the first thing that people see when you smile. So I haven’t been very aggressive to say, ‘Let me look at what these teeth look like.’ He’s got enough on his mind, getting himself ready for games.”
His mouth still sore — like having a mouthpiece in at all times — Dunn replaced Robert Bortuzzo for the Blues, who were down 2-1 to the Bruins in the best-of-seven series.
“You don’t really believe it until you’re here,” Dunn said. “It’s very special to be in this position that I’m in at such a young age. I just want to make the best of it.”
Dunn’s teammates were looking forward to getting him back as much as he was to being back.
“He brings a lot of different things,” Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said before Game 4. “He’s a guy who moves the puck well. He’s fast. He’s got a lot of skill. He can do it all. So when you have a guy like that added to the lineup, it’s a big addition. We can’t wait to see him do his thing tonight.”
Dunn made sure his parents were set up, dropping off tickets at their hotel for seats they didn’t know were different than their usual spot.
“He just said, ‘Here you go, here’s your tickets,’” Tracy remembers.
They got to the game and discovered they’d be sitting in the front row, in the same corner where their son goes to retrieve pucks on defense.
Tracy and John Dunn, the parents of Blues defenseman Vince Dunn, watch Game 4 from the front row at Enterprise Center (Jeremy Rutherford / The Athletic)
Tracy believes that she made eye contact with him, but said she wasn’t worried if he saw them or not.
“I was just grateful for the opportunity to see him on the ice,” she said. “I just sat there very quietly, and if he saw, great. The important thing for our family is he knows we were there somewhere.”
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Sitting that close, though, did allow her to see something special.
“I looked over at him and I saw the emblem of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the thing that they wear on their chest, and I went, ‘Oh my gosh!’” she said. “This is the real thing, like this is the dance. Just to see that patch on his jersey brought me to tears.”
Another emotional effect on the night was the fact that the date of Dunn’s return coincided with the birthday of his maternal grandfather, Chris Paylor, who died at age 72 in February 2018.
“My dad was a huge influence on Vince and his hockey career, and a comeback for Vince on this date is a huge testament to our family,” Tracy said.
On his first shift of the game, Dunn netted an assist for Paylor and for the Blues, setting up Ryan O’Reilly’s goal for a 1-0 lead just 43 seconds into the game.
Ryan O'Reilly gets the Blues started in the opening minute of Game 4.
Vince Dunn gets a point on his first shift back. pic.twitter.com/Urm9NV2iOs
— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) June 4, 2019
Dunn logged 12:57 of ice time and took nine shots. He was pretty happy with his performance but was disappointed with his role in Boston’s shorthanded goal that tied the score, 2-2, in the second period.
“I just wanted to come in and make an impact and be the player that I am,” he said. “I had a couple of plays that I want back. It wasn’t my cleanest game, but I think overall I brought a lot more good than bad into that one.”
“I thought he had a great game, I really did,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “It didn’t look like he missed a beat to me. Moving his feet well, moving the puck well, just the stuff that he does normally. It was really good to have him back. I mean, it’s a tough injury, taking a puck in the face. But he felt good enough to play and went in there and did a great job for us.”
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Dunn did eventually acknowledge seeing his parents in the front row.
“I don’t know how they got those tickets,” he said. “I was like, ‘Maybe they stole some seats.’ That’s cool. They’re probably excited they got the best seats in the house. But, um, yeah …”
Tracy laughed when told about his response.
“That’s just like him,” she said. “He just flies under the radar.”
Well, not totally under the radar.
“I got a stick in the face on my second shift,” Dunn said. “Nothing is going well for my face right now.”
“No, it isn’t, especially his mouth,” Tracy replied. “We saw him in the family lounge at the end of the game and the other lip was bleeding.”
Blues defenseman Vince Dunn got hit in the lip with a high stick in Game 4 Monday. (Jeremy Rutherford / The Athletic)
Nonetheless, you couldn’t wipe the smile off Dunn’s face afterward.
“It’s a pretty crazy feeling being out there,” he said. “The crowd is yelling no matter if the play is going on or not, so it’s a very intense atmosphere out there. I’m still kind of shaking from it. I’m feeling good and I’ve put in a lot of work over the last few weeks to get healthy. I wanted to get myself in this position, and to be here finally, I’m very grateful.”
It was time to celebrate with some rice pudding, or perhaps a double milkshake.
“Yeah, maybe,” Dunn said. “Maybe some soup or something. Whatever I can get into me, I’m pretty hungry right now.”
(Top photo: Scott Rovak / Getty Images)
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