Pick Up Hockey

When In Pain….There Is Always Hockey.

Sadly, the writer of the blog is day to day with a high ankle sprain. Why would this be hockey worthy? Well only because he was playing hockey on a basketball court that really isn’t meant for hockey naturally. I now do understand why they say hockey is not meant to be played in the desert.

In what was a normal play where I was just playing the Right Winger coming up the side, I simply hit a gap on the court surface and my ankle naturally went several ways it wasn’t supposed to. Amazingly, I did not go down though I probably should have in order to draw a penalty. Technically, the opposing player did have his stick between my legs….I could have drawn an obstruction penalty maybe. Then again, I am not Sean Avery. I will admit I play the game honest and with pride.

Gamely, I played on. In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have. I popped my sneaker off when I got home only to find my ankle looked like a small grapefruit. Fortunately spraying it with air compressor freezing spray works pretty well until you can put ice on an injury…who knew? The best part of playing hockey almost your whole life is you learn these little tricks of the trade to get by when you know you have an injury that by all rights should be far more serious. Call it luck or whatever you will….I will not be able to walk too good for several days but this could have been far worse. Whew!

So why does it take professional hockey players so long to come back from these injuries? Because well their body is a like a finely tuned machine for one. I am not in the hockey shape that I once was and I probably will never be again. But I am used to these things happening because my ankles are not the greatest. So they do ironically heal faster than say a Sidney Crosby. Something that may keep him out six weeks might only keep me out six days because I don’t have to perform at as high of a level. While players now have state of the art methods to keep them in tip=top conditions, I don’t. In some ways not having those options available may be the best thing honestly.

Now that sounds crazy but it really is true. I can take my time, heal the injury, and go on my normal business. I still think all these treatments and things only exacerbate the waiting for a player. Now these are multi-million dollar investments and naturally the risk of injury is great. So these teams do have to baby these players while you and me, well we just get an ace bandage, some ice, and rest…then we suit up the next week like nothing happened in most cases.

So while I recuperate nicely in my air conditioned house, I will think some more about how lucky I am to be able to play the sport I love and not worry about being waited on hand and foot by trainers and worse. Maybe a bad ankle really is the least of my worries and maybe I should worry about hockey more. Ah, I can feel the pain displacement helping already!