Recently, Edmonton Oilers defenceman Corey Potter accidentally stepped on Taylor Hall’s face with a skate. The pictures of Taylor Hall’s injury were released, and they’re, um…festive? Let’s go with festive. Besides being “festive,” Hall’s injury has inspired this “best of” blog.

Check out this picture or four adorable puppies sitting in a field. What are they doing in that field? Just being adorable. They are also your final buffer between you and the bloody, disfigured hockey players that inhabit the rest of this article. If you’re squeamish, then I suggest you either suck it up, or…suck it up. Don’t leave. I love you. Look – puppies! Ok, now the gross stuff with the faces and whatnot.

#5 – Andrew Ladd, Winnipeg Jets

There are a lot of things you learn as a kid that you just don’t understand. How does Santa Claus fit down the chimney? How does the tooth fairy leave money under your pillow without waking you up? How the hell are hockey pucks made of rubber?

Other sports stick with their nice, soft, bouncy rubber balls , but as Andrew Ladd was reminded earlier this season in a game against Ottawa, hockey still uses what are basically round, black bricks. It could be worse, though. Hockey pucks used to be made out of petrified horse turds. Now that would be a messy Twitpic.

#4 – James Wisniewski, Columbus Blue Jackets

So apparently Taylor Hall has one hell of a wrist shot. James Wisniewski, then with the playoff-bound Montreal Canadiens (how time flies), tried to poke the puck away from the Oilers rookie during a game in Edmonton. Unfortunately for Wisniewski, all he really did was provide a launchpad for the puck to rocket up into his face. Obviously photos don’t have sound, but you can almost look at this and hear him just go “Uuuggghhh…” Put it this way: He could be having a better time in this photo.

The resulting shiner Wisniewski developed was a doozy. On the bright side, he got to look like this on national television during the Heritage Classic. You can almost see him thinking to himself “This blows.” Weird observation: Between the facial hair, the way his helmet is resting on his head, and the stitches looking like the eye black that football players wear, Wisnieski almost looks like a slimmer Ben Roethlisberger in this picture.

#3 – Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning

Just like Ladd and Wisniewski, Bolts sniper Steven Stamkos was also the victim of a puck to the face. A Martin St. Louis deflection of a Johnny Boychuk one-timer, to be specific. What earns him a higher spot than those two however, is that it was in Game 7 of the 2011 Eastern Conference Final. After missing just a few shifts, Stamkos returned with a full cage and mangled face to finish up the game. Tampa would go on to lose the game and series, but at least Stammer got to snap this gem a few days after the incident. The injury doesn’t appear to have negatively effected Stamkos, as both his stats and hair continue to grow, progressing both his NHL and modelling career.

#2 – Taylor Hall, Edmonton Oilers

Nothing will ruin your day quite like a 206 pound man playing hopscotch on your face with skates on. That’s what happened to Taylor Hall this past week during a warmup courtesy of a freak accident with teammate Corey Potter. While it was a freak accident, a lot of players that were rocking the old school no-helmet look in the pre-game skate, like Hall, are strapping their buckets on. Luckily Hall’s eye was avoided in the incident.

#1 – Darryl Boyce, Toronto Maple Leafs

When you clicked on this blog, what else did you honestly think the top one would be? Boyce’s nose after going face first into a camera hole in one of those “what the hell are the odds of that?” scenarios, is pretty heinous. So many things are awesome about this Twitpic. First of all, he’s smiling. If this doesn’t prove hockey players some of the toughest and craziest athletes on earth, I’m not sure what does. Anyone who can crack a smirk with half their nose turned inside out can play on my team any day.

Another unforgettable part of this whole ordeal was that while members of the media were reporting Boyce would likely miss the next game, Boyce tweeted right back at them, presumably through his new third nostril, saying he would be good to go. Throwing on the Don Cherry voice, “That’s a hockey player’s hockey player!”