[MBHockey]

So the story goes that i had surgery on my wrist last summer to repair some long-time hockey injuries in the form of torn tendons and cartilage, and some other stuff i don't remember. I didn't play last season because i had a cast from july to the end of september, and then i had to do a good 3 months of therapy to get my wrist to bend again. Then i had to hit the gym and get some muscle back, since i went into the cast weighing about 165 lbs and came out of it weighing 143 lbs.

Fast forward to this season. I worked out steadily last year and maintained over the summer. I got back up to 160 lbs, and i knew i'd play this year. We had a couple of practices in the last two weeks, and man it was tough trying to get my hands, legs, and head back into hockey. Our first game was tonight...a few hours ago.

Now, i'm no huge man. I'm only 5'7" and 160 lbs. (but i benched 250 lbs over the summer!) It's fair to say 90% of other hockey players in college are taller and weigh more than me, but a lot of them are just big pussies. This is just club hockey by the way.

So in my game tonight, we're on the power play. I'm the wing but my center is in the corner so i am covering for him and trying to get open in front of the net. The defensman and I are battling pretty good, when all of a sudden he goes down and screams out in pain. I got a penalty for interference, but i didn't really know what happened. I thought he had taken a shot from our point man on the inner knee where there is little padding, but then they had to call the ambulance and take him off the ice on a stretcher. People said they heard a pop and his ankle was just completely facing the wrong way. I still don't really know what happened. He was a little bigger than me, and we were just going at it. I was holding my ground pretty good and he was trying to move me.

Some guys on my team said it looked like i just shoved him really hard to stay in front of the net and he just fell backwards on it with it facing a really bad angle.

I don't know about this really. I feel bad that he got hurt, and that he'll be in a cast for a while now and have to go through therapy...since i know how that all goes...but i don't think it was a dirty play by any means, and i don't think anyone else did really. The ref told me he gave me the interference call because i shoved him right before a shot was coming in....yeah, that's right...they call EVERYTHING in this league. So do I chalk it up to just "shit happens in hockey"? Or am i that asshole?

[billybobsky]

um... really?

[MBHockey]

i don't really know what you mean

[torifile]

Sounds like "shit just happens." You're not "that asshole" until you hurt someone on purpose.

[billybobsky]

I am slightly confused as to how you could have broken his ankle...

Skates basically make that impossible... He had to have been trying to resist the direction of his fall AT his ankle... odd.

I wouldn't worry about it...

[Moogs]

I'm going to start calling you Probert.

Seriously, don't worry about it. Sounds very much like a fluke injury. He obviously didn't have good position, and most likely didn't have his feet positioned properly relative to you and the goal. I'm trying to envision how such a severe injury could result from a simple shove. He had to have been too upright and his feet twisted funny somehow, right?

Anyway, clearly no goon factor here, Proby. Carry on.

[turtle]

Same thoughts here. While I've never played, it doesn't seem like something you could have *made* happening without all the onlookers calling foul play on you. Pushing is one thing, that wouldn't break his ankle like that though.

Plus, it's hockey, aren't you all supposed to kill each other for our onlooking amusement? It's great to go to a fight where a hockey game breaks out.

[murbot]

That's a pretty elaborate story you've written there just so you can brag about benching 250.

[RowdyScot]

To be honest, I've broken my ankle checking someone whilst playing the game. I leveled a guy against the boards, and when the puck broke free I would have been on a breakaway. Skated after the puck, and I heard a nice big snap as I fall to the ice in pain. The ref told me there was a rut about 3/4" deep and my foot was stuck going one way while my body went the other. Sounds completely plausible to me as an accident, because all the defenseman had to do was be pushed back into a rut with his foot trying to go the other way. A good rut in the ice will make a foot stop, no matter what the rest of the body is doing. He wouldn't have even had to be in bad position. The only reason you got called was for the action in front of the net. Someone falls down, whoever is closest will usually get a call with the new rules in place around the country. Chalk it up to shit happens, your rink's Zamboni driver was drunk, whatever. Just keep playing the game

[MBHockey]

Originally Posted by murbot That's a pretty elaborate story you've written there just so you can brag about benching 250.

hahaha

thanks guys, i feel like less of a jerk now. I hope his recovery goes well.

[Moogs]

Uh huh. I bet you've got Stu Grimson posters on your wall too, don't you?

[MBHockey]