MONTREAL Canadiens prospect Blake Geoffrion, who suffered a scary head injury less than two weeks ago, is home for the holidays.

The Hamilton Bulldogs forward needed surgery for a depressed skull fracture on Nov. 9 when he was hit by a skate as he fell after a hard check from Syracuse Crunch defenceman J.P. Cote.

On Thursday, he released a statement through the Canadiens:

"I want to sincerely thank all fans, friends, family members and everyone from the hockey world for the incredible support I have received. I was cleared by the neurosurgeon and the club's medical staff to return home for a three-week period of complete rest. I am very happy to be home for Thanksgiving."

His father, Danny, told The (Nashville) Tennessean days after the incident that the Hobey Baker Award winner had gone into convulsions after arriving at Montreal General Hospital and was lucky to be alive.

"They removed the piece of his skull that was about the size of a silver dollar," Danny said. "They had to replace that with titanium and metal mesh. And that's what the plate consists of, with the screws and all that, so he now has that in his head. It was unreal."

Blake Geoffrion, who has had concussions earlier in his career, is out indefinitely but is expected to make a full recovery, the Canadiens said.

Geoffrion is part of Canadiens royalty: His great-grandfather is Howie Morenz and his grandfather is Bernie (Boom Boom) Geoffrion.

-- McClatchey News Service

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 23, 2012 C6