Erie Otters alumnus Jason Baird, 27, suffered burns over 60-65 percent of his body in a lawnmower explosion Thursday night in Austintown, Ohio, The Youngstown Vindicator reported Saturday.
Baird, a native of Cayuga, Ontario, is listed in critical condition at Akron Burn Center in Akron, Ohio, according to The Vindicator. Doctors induced a coma to help Baird handle the pain, The Vindicator said.
Baird reportedly was cutting grass for a private landscaping company when the lawn mower he was riding exploded, the Vindicator said. Fuel was reportedly involved in some way, but he wasn’t refueling the mower when the accident occurred, Andrew Frost III, Austintown assistant fire chief told The Vindicator.
Baird, an Otters forward from 1997-2001, played for the Central Hockey League’s Youngstown SteelHounds last season. He recently signed to play with the International Hockey League’s Muskegon Fury next season. “Everybody in the Muskegon Fury family is shocked by this news,” Fury coach Bruce Ramsay said on the IHL’s Web site. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Jason and his family. If there’s anything we can do as an organization, we will do it.”
He has 136 goals, 382 points and 1,068 penalty minutes in 383 professional games in the ECHL (Cincinnati – 2001-02), CHL (Indianapolis, Corpus Christi and Youngstown (2002-08) and the Guilford Flames in the British National League (2004-05). Baird ranks among the top five in Otters’ history in game-winning goals (19 – first), penalty minutes (699 – first), assists (131 – assists), points (218 – third), games played (245 – fourth) and goals (87 – fourth).
According to The Vindicator, the SteelHounds are planning a benefit for the Baird family in late August.