Meteor jolts Saskatchewan hockey player in Russia

A Saskatchewan hockey player experienced first hand the shock of the massive meteor that exploded in Russia.

Michael Garnett, from Saskatoon, is playing hockey in Chelyabinsk, Russia, where a 9-tonne meteor broke apart.

He lives on the 23rd floor of his building and recalls hearing a large blast and sensing movement in his apartment.

"I heard this incredibly loud bang," Garnett,30, said in an interview with CBC News Friday. "I right away jumped up out of the bed, in my underwear pretty much, got into the ready position. I didn't know what was happening."

He said his next move was to get to a lower level.

"Because I was up so high, I thought, you know, first thing I've got to do is get down to ground level in case the building comes down," he said. "I didn't know what was going to happen."

The community, it turns out, was affected by a sonic boom that was powerful enough to shatter countless windows.

Chelyabinsk was the biggest city affected by the meteor.

"My light fixtures were swaying back and forth," Garnett, who plays goalie in the professional Kontinental Hockey League for the Traktor Chelyabinsk, added. "I was just terrified."

When he was able to collect himself, Garnett looked out his window and saw a trace of the meteor that had torn through the sky moments earlier.

"It was like a bomb went off," he said. "You drive down the street and you look up at the apartments, and a lot of these buildings are from the Soviet era, and there's just windows blown out. It's just crazy."

Scientists estimate the space rock was moving at a velocity of more than 54,000 km/h.