Sparta Prague forward Miroslav Forman suffered a serious tongue injury in a pre-season game on 11 August, with not-so-pleasant photos posted on social media (SEE BELOW – WARNING: GRAPHIC). His first game back was Friday night's close encounter with Comarch Cracovia.

by Karolina Antosova

PRAGUE – In their first CHL game this season in Poland, Sparta Prague blew out Comarch Cracovia 7–2, and many people were predicting something similar when the two teams met again last Friday night at Prague's O2 Arena. What a mistake. Cracovia lost only 5–4 and gave Sparta a tough battle. “We knew it wouldn’t be an easy game, because they had nothing to lose,” said Miroslav Forman, who appeared on the ice for the first time since almost losing half of his tongue.

tak vypadá pusa po včerejším večerním utkání Míry Formana ze @HCSpartaPraha 12 stehů spravilo díru v jazyku#bojovník pic.twitter.com/BG16LtiMOg

— Martin Podlešák (@podlesakmartin) August 12, 2016

“How Mira Forman's mouth looks after last night's @HCSpartaPraha game. 12 stitches fixed the hole in his tongue. #Warrior”

For the first time since 11 August, when Forman suffered not a really nice looking injury, the young Sparta forward was in the lineup again. He collected one goal and two assists against Cracovia, so it looks like Forman is back in shape after his health troubles.

So how about your injury? Is it okay already?

“Yes, it’s fine. It took a while to start speaking properly again, but during the game it wasn’t a problem.”

How did the tongue injury happen?

“I stick it out usually during the whole game. In the (pre-season) game against Geneve-Servette I had it on my upper lip and someone cut it in half.”

The therapy for that kind of injury must have been little bit awkward. How did you eat and drink?

“It was so terrible with food. I lost a bit of weight, but I really have to thank my girlfriend, because she was cooking so great for me all the time. So I’ve got quickly back to my old numbers.”

So porridge and stuff like that?

“Of course (smiling). Tons of porridge and everything else had to be blended.”

How about ice cream? Did that work?

“Ice cream was so bad. It didn’t work at all.” (By this time, everyone in the room is laughing.)

How many stitches were needed?

“Twelve.”

Have you already seen the pictures of it? Or have you not yet found the courage to look?

“Yes, I saw that and...it wasn’t really very nice. But luckily it has no health consequences.”

Your agent Martin Podlesak posted the pictures on Twitter and it looked like some horror movie scene...

(laughing)... “Well it was quite disgusting, but it’s really nothing serious. For a moment I was even wondering why I couldn’t play with stitches, but it wasn’t possible. The tongue got so swollen that I couldn’t even breathe.”

So from now on you won’t stick your tongue out anymore, I guess?

“Well... in this game I found myself with my tongue out of my mouth again, so it’s probably something I won’t ever get rid of it. I’ll probably add more stitches.” (smiling)

You played this game after a two-week break. After the big win in Poland, did you expect it to be a slightly easier game than it was?

“The pre-game meetings and practices were really consistent. We didn’t want to underestimate anything. We knew it wouldn’t be an easy game, because they had nothing to lose. And now you can see that the game really looked like that.”

But after the first minute, when you scored twice, it really looked like you had an easy job ahead of you.

“Well, maybe we were more satisfied than we should have been. They got back into the game. Although we had almost 70 shots, they were so dangerous in odd-man rush situations. It really wasn’t an easy game. They have a different style of hockey and we’re not used to it. Maybe we got caught up in the game and played way too offensively, which caused their breaks the other way.”

Was it a big relief to secure a spot in the Round of 32?

“I think that we've just fulfilled what we set out to do in the CHL. Relief? Of course, we've advanced to the playoffs, but we still have a lot of work in front of us.”