Latest local news, weather and high school sports for Toledo area

TOLEDO, OHIO -- Two area high school hockey players remain hospitalized Tuesday night, after suffering severe injuries on the ice.  Both players were left nearly paralyzed in separate incidents.

18-year-old Dustin Wells says he thinks he will walk and play hockey again.  He spoke to NBC24 from his Toledo Hospital bed, where he is suffering from a potentially paralyzing injury.

"My lower back (is) really bothering me. My legs...can't really feel them," says Wells.

The Start High School hockey player was knocked down by a Northview player Friday night in a game played at Tam-o-Shanter.  Wells has a bruised spine, but he knows it could have been worse.

The Start Spartan is praying for another area high school player who may never walk again. 

14-year-old Kyle Cannon is a varsity hockey player at Clay High School in Oregon.  He is suffering from a broken neck after being struck from behind during a game against Lexington (Kentucky) Catholic High School in a Dayton tournament Sunday.

"You think you got it worse, someone else got it worse. I feel really bad for him...hope he gets better as well," says Wells.

Dustin's mom, Dawn Haynes agrees, "Dustin and I were talking, laughing (and) said right now we need to be praying and thinking about him. He's worse off. You're blessed."

Wells says the player who hurt him did nothing wrong.  He hopes to go home in a week and fully recover in six months.

In the meantime, Kyle Cannon is in critical but stable condition in Dayton's Miami Valley Hospital.  He just had surgery to fuse the vertebrae in his neck and stabilize it.  Doctors say he has feeling from his belly-button upwards and out to his arms and elbows.  He remains in Intensive Care in critical but stable condition.

Cannon may be transferred to a Toledo area hospital in the coming days.

Clay hockey coach Frank Butler says a fund has been set up to help with Cannon's recovery.  You can donate to the fun at any Charter One Bank location in the name of Kyle Cannon. 

At this weekend's area high school hockey games, the Northwest Ohio Hockey Conference will be collecting money on Cannon's behalf.