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Too much GRIT to QUIT

Sporting News, The, May 29, 2000 by Larry Wigge

After a season of injuries to star players, hockey's marquee performers keep playing--even with the knowledge they could be one hit away from a career-ending injury

Flyers center Keith Primeau is walking out of the First Union Center in Philadelphia, arm-in-arm with his wife, Lisa. Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals is hours behind him. As soon as they get outside, Lisa punches Keith hard in the left arm.

"Are you crazy?" she says. "You get into a fight less than a week after you had to be carried off the ice on a stretcher with a concussion. That's crazy."

"Lisa," Keith says, hands gesturing wildly. "That punch right there was harder than any that Randy McKay threw at me. I'm OK. You know I have to be aggressive to play well."

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For a second, it appears we're seeing a lost episode of I Love Lucy before Lisa Primeau smiles as the couple heads home.

Meanwhile, in the locker room, Primeau's teammates are calling him gutsy and courageous for being a warrior. They're still talking about how he took a big hit for the team in the previous series against Pittsburgh, spending just one day in the hospital with a concussion. He didn't miss a game.

The hit came on one of those plays you can't forget: Primeau being sideswiped at center ice by defenseman Bob Boughner, his head snapping back like a whiplash victim in a 70-mph collision on the freeway, Primeau's helmet flying off as his cranium crashes to the ice.

It hurt just to watch.

In hockey, there is a macho mind-set. Players figure they are indestructible. But their peers are getting bigger, stronger and faster. And the hits are getting harder. One hit, one misstep, one quick twist of fate, and a player's career could be over.

"With all of the equipment we have in the game today, you almost feel like Superman," Maple Leafs left winger Wendel Clark says. "You do things you know you shouldn't, but you feel no fear. And at this time of the year, it's even worse. No one wants to miss a chance to win it all, so we're all gladiators out there, trying to push the game to the edge.

"You hit first and think about what dangerous thing you've done later."

The list of players out for extended time with injuries in the playoffs reads like a who's who. And perhaps it's no coincidence they are all in the final four: Eric Lindros, Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Mike Modano, Joe Nieuwendyk, Derian Hatcher and Jere Lehtinen.

"We know the risks," says Lindros, who has been out for two months after sustaining his fourth concussion in two years. Lindros says he plans to play in the finals.

"I've been in the NHL 10 years. I missed last year's playoffs, and I don't plan on missing this year, too," he says, referring to the collapsed lung that kept him out of last year's postseason. "I've worked too hard to come back. My team is too close to getting to tire Stanley Cup finals for only the second time in my career to quit trying to come back now."

Taking a collision course

Primeau says he was never unconscious. The hit from Boughner was just one of many collisions hockey players face every game. "The trainer came out and asked me if I knew where I was," he recalls. "I said, `Forget that, who hit me?'

"I'm a father with four kids, and a husband. I know my priorities. I also know I'm a hockey player and it's my job to be on the ice at the most important time of the year, if I can."

Primeau did not play with the power of a 6-4, 225-pound man as the Flyers lost 4-1 in the first game of the Eastern Conference final to New Jersey.

Two nights later, it was give-and-take for Primeau, beginning with confrontations with Devils defensemen Scott Stevens and Ken Daneyko early in the game. The hits kept coming--until Primeau dropped his gloves and traded punches with McKay at center ice 11 minutes into the second period with the Devils leading, 2-1.

"When the fight was over, I thought about looking over where Lisa sits," Primeau says. "Once my helmet came off, I figured she would have her head buried in her hands, afraid to watch. But I couldn't face her then."

There was work to be done.

Primeau wound up with one assist in the Flyers' 4-3 comeback victory, but he was clearly one of the stars of the night, as he was in Game 3 as Philadelphia moved closer to the Finals.

"His head must be feeling fine," says Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher. "Unless it's completely mush and he's just not thinking."

Says Primeau, "I remember coming into the league when I was 18 and guys telling me to enjoy it ... because it goes by so fast. I've played 10 years in the NHL now, and I've been to the finals once (with Detroit in 1995) and semifinals another time. It doesn't happen every year. So I just don't want to miss this opportunity."

A head of mush notwithstanding.

No respect

Modano started this traumatic season flying head over heals into the boards after a dangerous check by Mighty Ducks defenseman Ruslan Salei. Modano came out of the corner looking like a rabid dog foaming at the mouth.

"It was no fun and totally needless," Modano says. "There was obviously no respect on Salei's part to shove me the way he did when I was so close to the boards. I could have broken my neck."

Too much GRIT to QUIT

Sporting News, The, May 29, 2000 by Larry Wigge

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