Mats Zuccarello took a puck where no man ever wants to be hit.

The Minnesota Wild star was in front of the net in a game against the Montreal Canadiens Nov. 14, when a shot hit him in the groin.

Zuccarello immediately dropped to the ice and needed help leaving the rink.

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Zuccarello has not played since.

According to teammate Marcus Foligno, Zuccarello ruptured a testicle.

“Poor guy got hit where the sun don’t shine, and it ruptured his testicle. He can’t even lift anything,” Foligno told the 93X “Half-Assed Morning Show” Wednesday.

Foligno said he and his teammates “thought he was gonna lose one nut.”

“But it actually survived, and he’s got them both still,” Foligno added.

Folgino said Zuccarello’s protective cup had a “massive dent in it.”

Minnesota Wild right wing Mats Zuccarello, center, is helped off the ice after being injured during the first period of a game against the Montreal Canadiens Nov. 14, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

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“It was hilarious,” Foligno said. “It’s funny after, now that he’s OK.”

Zuccarello underwent surgery after the injury, and he’s expected to miss about four weeks.

Zuccarello is fourth on the team with 14 points (six goals, eight assists) and has skated on the first line with three-time All-Star Kirill Kaprizov and center Marco Rossi.

“Zuccy’s such an important part of the team. I’ve really enjoyed coaching him. He’s a veteran player. He’s an extreme competitor. He’s got great hockey sense, his value on the power play, obviously his chemistry with Kirill. But, to me, the way he’s come in this year and he’s played, he’s a real key guy,” head coach John Hynes said. 

“That being said, he’s played a long time, too. So, I know when he comes back, he’s going to be back to where he is.”

Mats Zuccarello of the Minnesota Wild passes the puck against the Toronto Maple Leafs during a game at Xcel Energy Center Nov. 3, 2024, in Saint Paul, Minn. (Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)

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This is Zuccarello’s 15th season in the NHL. He spent his first nine with the New York Rangers before a brief stint in Dallas with the Stars. He joined Minnesota in 2019.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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President-elect Donald Trump campaigned for president in 2016 in part by styling himself as a tough-on-crime contender who, if elected, would institute a national anti-crime agenda, crack down on immigration and bring “very strong, very swift,” law and order. 

His incendiary rhetoric and messaging on crime had set off alarm bells among many Democrats and criminal justice advocates ahead of his January 2017 inauguration. 

“I am the law and order candidate,” he told voters, before adding in the next breath, “I am also the candidate of compassion.”

But the second part of his remarks did little to assuage fears that under Trump, the U.S. would see an indiscriminate crackdown on crime. 

Jessica Jackson, a human rights attorney and CEO of criminal justice advocacy group REFORM Alliance, told Fox News Digital that she originally had some reservations of her own.

“First and foremost, I’m a Democrat,” Jackson said in an interview.  “So, to work with President Trump back in 2018 was considered a little bit unusual.” 

But Jackson did just that, lobbying for the First Step Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at reducing federal prison populations through curbing disproportionate sentences, promoting rehabilitation and allowing certain inmates the possibility of early release. 

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Jackson was part of a large group of police groups, religious leaders, prosecutors and celebrities who lobbied on behalf of the First Step Act. 

Their efforts were successful, and in December 2018 Trump signed the First Step Act into law.

The law has been roundly praised for both helping to reduce the federal prison population and, importantly, cutting down the rates of recidivism—the rate of formerly incarcerated persons who re-offend.

Jackson noted that the law has resulted in a reduction of recidivism “from about 49% to 9.7%.” A 2024 report from the Brennan Center for Justice estimates a slightly lower, but still striking, reduction rate of 46.2% to 9.7% of recidivism among former inmates aided by the First Step Act.

“I think the biggest lesson that I learned in the first administration was if you engage with the administration, there are opportunities to make progress on the issues that you care about,” Jackson said of working with Trump.

Now, she and other criminal justice advocates see more opportunities to work together in Trump’s second term. 

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President Donald Trump hangs up after a phone call in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Oct. 23, 2020, in Washington.  ((AP Photo/Alex Brandon))

One major opportunity that Jackson sees for Trump is passing the Safer Supervision Act, bipartisan legislation aimed at helping formerly incarcerated persons transition back into their communities. Proponents see the bill as a way to build on the success of the 2018 legislation.

Former inmates overwhelmingly struggle to readjust to life after prison, and the Safer Supervision Act seeks both to aid in employment opportunities for former inmates and to reduce the litany of burdensome parole and probation requirements.

It looks to address major hurdles faced by ex-cons, including a lack of structure, trouble finding a job and the many gaps in the federal parole and probation system, which is itself made up of understaffed and underfunded programs.

These hurdles have, at times, landed ex-cons behind bars for what appear to be largely innocuous reasons—ranging from missing a meeting with a parole officer to leaving a judicial district without permission or associating with people who have former convictions or are engaged in criminal behavior. At times, it is not communicated to the ex-prisoner what exactly the restrictions are. 

Prison inmates wearing firefighting boots line up for breakfast in Yucaipa, California, November 6, 2014. (Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)

Jackson said that her team once worked with a former inmate who had traveled to and from work on public transit, eventually saving up enough money to make a down payment on a car.

Unfortunately, when he went to finance the car, she said, “It turns out that unbeknownst to him, and buried in the list of onerous conditions, was that he couldn’t open a bank account without talking to a supervision officer.”

“So, here’s a guy who thinks he’s doing something great—getting a car to go back and forth to work; taking his kids to school. And the next thing you know, he’s got a violation of his supervision and is being sent back in,” Jackson said. 

As a whole, former inmates are highly prone to recidivism: A 2023 Justice Department analysis of prisons in 24 states found that a whopping 82% of people released were rearrested at least once in the 10 years following their release. (A still-significant 43% were rearrested within a single year.)

Jackson hopes that Trump will make good in his second term on expanding these criminal justice reform initiatives—by passing the Safer Supervision Act and implementing other measures, such as second-chance hiring. 

Asked whether she had been in talks with any transition team staffers, Jackson laughed. “It’s funny, because everybody keeps asking me like, ‘Well, have you talked to anybody over there?’”

“We came together in a very unlikely coalition, and we were able to make real progress—we never actually stopped talking to them,” she said.

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“And I think we’re excited about the opportunity to continue those conversations and to make progress where we can.”

When it comes to sharing aspects of her private life, Cher isn’t holding anything back.

During an appearance on “The Howard Stern Show“ on Wednesday, the Grammy Award-winning artist — who recently released her new book, “Cher: The Memoir, Part One” — opened up about her sex life at 78. 

After being asked whether men “expect fabulous sex” from her, she said, “Yes — and they get it,” Cher confirmed. “You can tell by the reaction.”

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“Who would ever leave you?” Stern asked. 

“Few men,” she replied. “Look, I was madly in love with Val Kilmer, and he left … because sometimes you’re only meant to stay with someone for so long. Val was really young.”

The former couple, who are 13 years apart in age, were together for a couple of years in the early 1980s. 

“We became friends because we laughed at the same things constantly,” she told People in 2021. “He would sleep over, and it was just a friendship [at first]. That took a long time. Well, I guess not really a long time.”

Cher and Val Kilmer dated for a couple of years in the early ’80s. The singer says she was “madly in love” with him when he left her. (Getty Images)

Cher, who is currently dating Alexander “AE” Edwards, has been married twice before. She was married to Sonny Bono from 1964 to 1969, and later to Gregg Allman from 1975 to 1979. 

In her new book, the “Believe” singer reflected on how her tumultuous relationship with Bono made the pop singer consider suicide multiple times. 

“There I was, twenty-six years old and in what had become a loveless marriage . . . he just lost interest,” she wrote. 

“I stepped barefoot onto the balcony of our suite and stared down. I was dizzy with loneliness. I saw how easy it would be to step over the edge and simply disappear. For a few crazy minutes I couldn’t imagine any other option,” she added. 

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Cher and Sonny Bono were married for five years in the ’70s.  (Getty Images)

Cher said her suicidal thoughts occurred “five or six times.”

What pulled Cher away from the ledge was the vulnerable thought of how it would deeply impact her family if she were to jump to her death. 

“… Each time I think … about my mother, about my sister, about everybody and how things like this could make people who look up to me feel that it’s a viable solution, and I would step back inside.”

The “If I Could Turn Back Time” singer then came to another solution to her relationship with Bono.

“I don’t have to jump off, I can just leave him.”

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Now, Cher’s relationship with Edwards — who is 40 years her junior —  has its own challenges. 

Cher is currently dating ‘AE’ Edwards, who is 40 years her junior.  (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)

She admitted that her age gap with the 38-year-old Universal Music Group executive occasionally creates instances of miscommunication between the pair. 

“Sometimes I’m talking to him, and he has no idea who I’m talking about. . . . The other day, I said, ‘Do you know who, I don’t know, Clark Gable, [is]?’ Somebody said, ‘Yes, of course,’ but most of my references … he’ll look at me and go, ‘I wasn’t born yet,'” the Grammy Award winner told Extra in 2023. 

Cher says she’s aware that men “expect fabulous sex” from her, and that “they get it.” (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

However, Cher explained that the two share a strong connection, though she noted that Edwards was “reserved” and “more obviously shy,” compared to her.

“I hate to talk about how happy I am, but no, we have a great time together,” the “Moonstruck” star said.

She continued, “We can talk music. We can talk about everything. He’s a got a great sense of humor, he’s got the cutest son in the world, ever. . . . We just get each other.”

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Fox News Digital’s Ashley Hume and Stephanie Giang-Paunon contributed to this report.

Former CNN host and failed Democratic congressional candidate John Avlon blasted his party in the wake of its electoral losses this November, including his own.

Avlon, who lost to incumbent Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., in New York’s Congressional District 1 race on Election Day, told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday that voters see the Democratic Party as the “status quo” and not strong enough on the issues most urgent most urgent to Americans.

“They can’t be the default party of the status quo. I think that’s the most dangerous place to be. And I think right now they are seen that way,” Avlon told co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.

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The show brought Avlon on to weigh in on what happened to the Democratic Party this cycle, especially as popular liberal candidates were beaten by Republicans. One major loss they brought up was Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who conceded to Republican candidate Dave McCormick on Thursday, following more than two weeks of vote counting in Pennsylvania.

“Morning Joe” characterized Casey’s loss as a “shot across the bow” from a formidable GOP, and asked Avlon for a postmortem on that loss and others.

The former CNN anchor gave an honest assessment, noting that his party failed in speaking to the most important concerns of American voters.

“I kept thinking of one of my favorite quotes from Bill Clinton,” he began. “He said, ‘People will vote for strong and wrong every time.’ And I think the Democratic Party has a strength problem on the issues that matter most – personal safety and economic security. I think those are the fundamentals.”

Avlon argued that Democrats were too focused on defense compared to aggressive GOP messaging and then were seen as the status quo. “Democrats got to get off defense and play offense,” he said, elsewhere noting that Republicans were able to appear more appealing.

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Freshman GOP Rep. Nick LaLota defeated former CNN anchor John Avlon in U.S. congressional race for New York on Election Day this year.  (Getty Images)

“And so, people will take a chance if they seem like there are bold solutions on the other side.”

Avlon also suggested that his party did not do enough to address the “civic decline” that Americans have been feeling. “But if people feel that that civic decline is going on, Democrats have to be taking that on and being the leaders of that reform, otherwise they’re gonna get caught up in a wave,” he said.

Later on in the segment, Scarborough pushed back, saying that the Democratic Party had to address other serious issues, like the “authoritarian” threat of the Republican Party and President-elect Donald Trump’s so-called “threats of retribution” to his political enemies.

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Avlon, who repeatedly hammered Trump on such topics during his media tenure, admitted that those issues simply weren’t as “urgent” as the economy and border security.

“Look, I think life is a struggle between the urgent and the important. And I think for a lot of people the urgent issues they face are about affordability, right… and about feelings of personal safety.”

He continued, “And here’s where Democrats gotta get the big things right. If people don’t feel safe, if they don’t feel economically secure, everything else is secondary.”

An unruly air traveler was placed in custody after injuring a crew member and causing disruption on an American Airlines flight from Milwaukee to Texas.

On Tuesday, the man stormed a flight attendant in an attempt to exit the plane through a cabin door with fellow travelers helping restrain the man with tape, FOX 4 KDFW reported.

The man approached the flight attendant and said he needed “to exit the plane” because he was the “Captain,” Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport’s incident report, which was obtained by KDFW and shared with Fox News Digital, reads.

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Doug McCright from McKinney, Texas, who was one of the three men who helped restrain the passenger, told KDFW that the verbal altercation took place near the row where he was sitting in the front of the plane.

“I could tell that the conversation was not going very well,” he said.

After hearing the flight attendant repeatedly tell the passenger to go back to his seat, McCright stepped in.

“I said, ‘Sir, she wants you to go back to your seat. You need to go back to your seat…He turns and he says, ‘I’m getting off this flight! I want off this flight,” McCright said, according to KDFW.                                                                       

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The man then jumped on top of the flight attendant attempting to access the cabin door when McCright grabbed the man and held him back. 

The flight landed shortly after 10 a.m. with officials boarding the plane to remove the man. (iStock)

The flight attendant told officials her left wrist and neck were injured, and she was later taken to a hospital for treatment.

Passenger Charlie Boris, along with another traveler, taped the man’s hands and feet while holding him down for the remaining 30 minutes of the flight.

“It was kind of a fight or flight situation,” Boris told FOX 4 KDFW.

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Boris added, “everyone just really helped and put together effort, and we all get to go to Thanksgiving.”

Not long after the flight landed, around 10 a.m., the FBI and airport police boarded the plane and found one of the passengers still kneeling on the man.

The disruptive passenger was taken for mental evaluation by officials once the plane landed.  (iStock)

The disruptive passenger was removed from the plane in a wheelchair and was taken for a mental evaluation, KDFW reported.

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“DFW Airport Department of Public Safety police officers responded to arriving American Airlines flight 1915 on Nov. 19 to a report of a disruptive passenger on board,” a DFW spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Officers took one person into custody, and the investigation is ongoing.”

The restraint tape used was included in an onboard safety kit, according to the airline, FOX Business reported.

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Fox News Digital reached out to American Airlines for comment.

A Venezuelan migrant is accused of sexually assaulting the 14-year-old daughter of his employer in Colorado while living in the basement of his home, police and reports say. 

Jesus Alberto Pereira Castillo had crossed into the U.S. illegally in El Paso, Texas in September 2023 before being released by the Border Patrol, Homeland Security sources told the New York Post. He was taken into custody in Denver on Tuesday. 

“On August 29, 2024, at about 11:00 p.m., deputies responded to a south Jefferson County residence on a sexual assault investigation. Castillo’s employer owns the residence, and Castillo was temporarily staying in the basement of the home,” the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said.  

“At around 10:30 that evening, Castillo forced himself on the 14-year-old daughter of the homeowner, sexually assaulting her. He left the residence before deputies arrived,” it added. 

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The Sheriff’s Office says Castillo was arrested “without incident” following “many weeks of relentless investigative work.” 

He was expected to make his first court appearance Wednesday.

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U.S. Border Patrol vehicles take away groups of vulnerable immigrants, including unaccompanied minors who had crossed over from Mexico, in May 2023 in El Paso, Texas. Castillo reportedly crossed into the U.S. in this area in September 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Sources also told the New York Post that Castillo previously was arrested in May this year for allegedly possessing tools for forgery/counterfeiting and larceny. 

They added that following the alleged sexual assault, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had placed a detainer on Castillo. 

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office says Castillo was taken into custody “without incident.” (Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office )

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Homeland Security and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond Friday to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.