GoFundMe for Junior Sabres player Gregory Manzi after 'catastrophic injury'

The father of a 16-year-old hockey player from Lancaster injured on the ice on October 5 said his son has a long road ahead toward recovery.

Gregory Manzi is a player on the U16 Buffalo Junior Sabres team. He was playing in a tournament in Utica when, according to his father, a player from an opposing team hit him and Greg hit his back on the boards.

"He knew immediately he couldn't move his legs," John Manzi told 7 News in a Zoom interview from Syracuse University Upstate Medical Center on Friday.

Greg has undergone two surgeries and his father said he has some sensation in his legs.

"But not in his toes and the bottom of the feet," Manzi said.

The doctors said they are encouraged by the return of some feeling following the surgeries. But no matter what, Greg's recovery will be long.

"It's gonna be a battle," his father said. "But if anybody could beat this, it's Greg."

Anna Quattra, a lifelong hockey lover who is the head coach of the Niagara University women's hockey team, doesn't know the Manzi family but heard about what happened to Greg through a friend.

She started a GoFundMe Wednesday to help the family.

By Friday evening, it had raised more than $70,000. You can donate here .