Injuries don?t impede the NHL?s playoff warriors

USA Today?s Kevin Allen talked to a host of, shall we say, advocates of the playoff warrior?s way in an article discussing the fact that, in the NHL, one is simply expected to play through the kinds of injuries that quite literally make grown men cry. Torn ligaments, broken teeth, noses, jaws, messed-up knees, elbows, shoulders, wrists, groins, backs, you name the sports-related injury, and a hockey player?s probably played through it. Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke, former Chicago Blackhawks forward Jeremy Roenick, Phoenix Coyotes captain Shane Doan and two members of the Red Wings? organization about the fact that even Steve Yzerman?s willingness to skate on a right knee whose ligaments had essentially disintegrated during the Wings? 2002 Cup run might be the stuff that legends are made of, but for players like Yzerman, sacrificing one?s future able-bodied status (Yzerman?s osteotomy has quite literally left him unable to run) was just ?what you do? when a possible Stanley Cup championship can be earned:

Detroit general manager Ken Holland said he never saw anyone play in more pain than Steve Yzerman when he led the Red Wings to the 2002 Stanley Cup championship.

?He got shot up before every game,? Holland said. ?He could hardly walk. He had a knee that was bone on bone. He was in such incredible pain.?

After the season, Yzerman had a knee osteotomy, in which the surgeon adds a wedge of bone to the shinbone to take the weight off the damaged area of the knee.

?If you watch clips of the 2002 playoffs, Steve would fall down and he would have to use one knee and his stick to pop himself back up,? Draper said.

Continued with the story of Brent Gilchrist playing through a groin tear that involved his muscles shearing off the bone in 1998, and Kris Draper knows all about sacrifice given that he scored a goal with his teeth during the 2008 Conference Finals?

Source: http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/tmr/comments/injuries_dont_impede_the_nhls_playoff_warriors/

Brad Davis Logan Morrison Mike Stanton Josh Bailey Mark Eaton Trent Hunter