Rite of passage

Well if you read the article I linked to in my 2nd post, you know that injury is part of the game. I just didn't expect it to happen to me so quickly, though in retrospect it makes sense that I got hurt right out of the gate, not being used to all that activity.

In my overzealousness to make a desperation save, I dove to my left to cover a shot coming off a pass, and landed on my hand, with my arm stretched out. I felt something in my shoulder give, and felt a twinge of pain, but I just got back up and kept playing, figuring it would be like all the other twinges and in 20 minutes it would be gone. Unfortunately, as time wore on it became more and more difficult to lift my left (i.e., glove) hand at all. Eventually it was just hanging down by my side and I realized I was being an idiot by trying to ignore it. About the time that realization hit me, I also started to panic. So instead of waiting for a break in play, or calling a water break, I skated up to the first guy I saw (John) and started babbling that I was hurt, I tried to play through it, but I couldn't play anymore. John's another one of the guys who, like Mike, make us all better for playing against/with him. I don't think he quite knew what to do with me, because at that point I wasn't really familiar with the guys in the group and there I was babbling at him with tears in my eyes. But since there's no crying in hockey, I managed to keep the waterworks shut off as John brought me over to the bench.

I discovered if I sat and did nothing, it didn't hurt too badly, but the minute I tried to move my hand, something in my shoulder screamed in pain. I was very worried that it was something dreadful like a "rotator cuff"... you never want to hear those words in conjunction with a diagnosis. It didn't feel like a regular old muscle pull, because the pain felt like it was somewhere inside my shoulder. I decided to give it a day or so and see if it started feeling better.

By 11:00 a.m. the next day I realized I needed to get it looked at, I was just in a lot of pain. It turned out to be an inflamed tendon, and I was told to ice it several times a day. If it didn't improve in two weeks, I was to have an MRI. Wonderful. Here I was, all bubbling over with passion to play the game, and I was sidelined already. Being the internet nerd that I am, I sent an email to the goalie yahoo-group I belonged to, asking if anyone had had this type of injury and how long it took to heal. I got a few answers, which were helpful and encouraging, but about a week later I got an instant message from one of the guys on the list, asking how I was doing. We struck up a friendship instantly, and he became a "virtual goalie coach" of sorts, answering my millions of questions and giving me tips on everything from off-ice training to how to tell if a skater was going to pass or shoot.

My shoulder healed quickly and I was back at the rink no later than two weeks after it happened, but the best part was that I'd gained a pretty good friend out of the experience. He and his wife live in North Carolina, and it was right at the end of the 2006 playoffs that we started talking, so of course there was lots gloating going on when the 'Canes won the Cup.