No excuses....

So I have completely neglected my blog over this last month....ah ya I have no excuses. So let's fast forward here. Our team ended up finishing tied for 1st in the league standings. The top 4 teams don't play the 1st round of playoffs, and our 2nd round started on Tuesday against Strasbourg. We beat them fairly easily 5-1. Then we had game 2 the next night, both at home and also won 5-3.

In this game though, I was injured in the first few seconds of my first shift. The puck was chipped behind me at our blue line, as I was skating to retrieve it, one of the Strasbourg players hooked me and guided me for about 3 meters before running me into the boards. Ok no problem, I did not have the puck and maybe he could have called a hooking penalty but it was not really too crazy or violent. The problem was when all my weight came down on my right leg and my skate got stuck in the ice behind me and twisting until "POP!!!" I got up and felt very weak in my ankle, then I took a stride and could not even stand on it anymore. As I was making my way to our bench, I noticed a Strasbourg player wide open in front of the net, so I limped a bit before diving in front of his shot. I am not sure how, but the puck was chipped out of our zone, and I hopped on 1 foot to our bench.

After all of the examinations over the last few days, it looks like the Anterior Talofibular Ligament is stretched, but luckily not torn. So for the moment I have a soft cast on and the doctor said to keep it for 2 weeks. I however, am hoping I can at least make it back on Friday for game 1 of the semi finals (pending on our 3rd victory against Strasbourg). I would like to help the team anyways I can and perhaps that means playing only on the power play, 5 minutes per game at the most I would think.

I feel so helpless with my teammates in Strasbourg set for battle tonight, I want so badly to be on the ice with them going to war.

On another note, my mom is arriving today. It was planned that Marion would go pick her up in Torino as I should be away finishing off the quarter finals, but since I am here I will accompany her. I am excited to see my mom, it has been since September that I last saw her. Of course she is bringing me some presents, but it is mostly stuff that I can't find here in France. So she is all loaded up with Protein Powder, Greens Plus, Gatorade etc.... Everything to help me stay strong and healthy. Basically everything is always hockey related. Maybe next time I should ask for some books or something?

Well from here on in, I am trying to stay positive and mentally heal my ankle. I picture it being strong and healthy and I visualize myself on the ice doing movements with power and force. This has been a difficult season with many injuries and a sickness that causes me to lose 15lbs, but I think experiencing all of these problems will have better prepared me to deal with such issues if they arise again. Being positive during this time is the most important thing I can do!