Blues' Jay Bouwmeester Undergoes Successful Heart Procedure

St. Louis defenseman Jay Bouwmeester underwent a successful Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) heart procedure at UC Irvine Medical Center in Anaheim, the team announced Friday.

Bouwmeester collapsed on his team's bench during the first period of Tuesday's Ducks-Blues game and suffered a cardiac episode.

Bouwmeester, who logged 5:34 of ice time in the game, had just cleared the puck and skated off the ice to the bench before collapsing. He was taken off the bench via a stretcher.

Following the incident, the Ducks tweeted that "there was a medical emergency near the Blues bench."

The game between the two teams was postponed. It has not currently been rescheduled. The game was tied 1–1 with 7:50 to go in the first period at the time of the delay.

Late Tuesday night, the team reported that Bouwmeester was conscious and alert as he underwent further testing. On Wednesday afternoon, Blues GM Doug Armstrong said that testing on the veteran defenseman was looking very positive.

Upon approval of release by the UCI Cardiology Department, the Blues defenseman will be flown back to St. Louis and monitored by Barnes Jewish Hospital and Washington University physicians.

St. Louis said it will provide an update on Bouwmeester's status early next week. The 36-year-old defenseman has recorded nine points this season, scoring one goal and eight assists through 56 games of action.