Chris Pronger still feels the effects of the concussion that forced him to retire.
Pronger, who took a stick to the eye from then-Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski on Oct. 24, is living in St. Louis now and working as a scout with the Flyers. The effects from that injury assured that Nov. 19, 2011 at Winnipeg would go down as his final NHL game, and some symptoms have still not gone away.
“I have them from time to time,” Pronger said. “But I’m doing pretty well. For the most part, I’m pleased with the progress. Every once in a while you take a step backwards, but things have been progressing.”
It took a long time, but St Louis scored his first goal as a Ranger.
There was hope, late, but the Canucks failed in the way that borders on humiliating.
Heading towards the midway point of third, the Canucks got a chance to tie on the power play, but could not, and immediately got the chance again, another power play. The Canucks had already ceded a short-handed breakaway on the first power play and the second time round, a poor pass by Zack Kassian in the offensive zone was intercepted and the Rangers were away, a two-on-one, and Martin St. Louis made no mistake, finally scoring his first goal as a Ranger in his 15th outing with the team.
Matt Stajan believes that being back with his team has helped him after the death of his son.
Matt Stajan credits his “second family” with helping him get through an almost incomprehensible tragedy with his first family.
“When you play hockey, there’s all these guys who you play with and it’s like your second family. Coming here with these guys, it’s been good for me,” Stajan said as his Flames prepared for the Leafs Tuesday night, almost a month after his son, Emerson, died shortly after birth in early March.
Stajan received waves of support from the NHL, players and friends as he and wife Katie dealt with the tragedy. But all professional athletes feel bound by the same unwritten code, which dictates that they return to their club within a relatively short time, even when it comes to family matters such as births and deaths.
Hockey players are tough. Playing with a broken foot... for a year?!
It’s a secret Hayley Wickenheiser could no longer hide.
The Canadian women’s hockey star helped Canada win gold at the Sochi Olympics despite playing with a broken foot.
The 35-year-old native of Shaunavon, Sask., was sporting a walking boot on her left foot at the Hockey Hall of Fame on Tuesday, where she was a guest speaker at the second annual Gatorade High Performance Hockey Summit.
“I’ve had a broken foot for about a year now so I’m trying to fix it,” Wickenheiser said. “I’m wearing this boot so I can avoid having that surgery, hopefully.
“I knew it was broken at the time (of the Olympics); we just found out it was a little more serious break than we thought. It was just managing the pain.”
Well, that'd be an interesting thing to see happen.
Prior to last week’s Federal Hockey League game between Dayton-Danville, the FHL had been referred to as a beer league.
It officially became a beer league last Friday during the third period of an eventual 4-0 Dayton win.
Just when it looked like Danville’s Matt Puntureri, a journeyman who once suited up for the OHL’s Oshawa Generals, and Dayton’s Jess Felton, a career minor leaguer, were about to drop the gloves, they came together for a hug.
That’s right, a hug.
Then, Puntureri pulled a beer from his shorts and began to chug.