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Dave Marley was not about to let a brain aneurysm scuttle his hockey dreams. Thanks to the love and support of family and friends, the 46-year-old North Carolina adult player is back in the game. North Carolina Adult Player Rebounds In A Big Way To Return To The Ice F 34 Marley, a 46-year-old rec-league player from Winston-Salem, N.C., collapsed on the ice during his son Logan's goalie clinic in May. He was taken to the hospital where a doctor told his wife, Elizabeth, that if Marley survived he would never "be the or most hockey players, stepping on the ice before a game is routine. For Dave Marley it's a miracle. same person." DOWN BUT NOT OUT BY MICHAEL HUIE After brain surgery, a long convalescence and intense physical therapy, Marley finally made it back to hockey. In September he played a game with his old C-league team as his family watched. He even scored a goal. Returning to hockey was on Marley's mind almost as soon as he regained NOVEMBER.2012 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM consciousness. He awoke in the emergency room to find his clothes had been cut off. Marley asked his daughter if they had cut his hockey gear as well. a surgeon performed a "coil procedure" in his brain to repair the aneurysm and stop bleeding in his brain. The next day doctors drilled into his skull to insert a drain to remove fluid from the brain. After the dire prognosis from one doctor, on the left side of his body as the result of a stroke during surgery. Marley woke up to find he was paralyzed Through all this, getting back on the ice remained in the back of his mind. Marley asked his wife for his iPhone. "Soon as I got the phone in my hand I started looking for hockey and aneurysm," he says. The results of his search weren't encouraging. However, just days after he collapsed, Marley received a phone call from someone who had survived a similar trauma. Vice-President Joe Biden was treated for two aneurysms in 1988 and learned about Marley's condition through a family friend who contacted U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell. At Kissell's urging, Biden phoned Marley in the hospital. "It never dawned on him he might not play again," Elizabeth recalls. PHOTOS BY Gregg Forwerck