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Note: It's not our fault that
only days after posting this article that Tony Amonte suffered his
first injury in almost 6 1/2 years. Ed. <Jan. 14, 2003>
First, to my loyal readers (there must be
more than one of you out there?) welcome back. A full half-season has
come and gone and we find ourselves again in the throes of playoff
races. And so, before disillusionment takes over and I once again quit
writing or even thinking about hockey, here follows another
installment of the “Chicks in the Pool” Saga.
Have you ever wondered what happened to
the old ‘never say die’ spirit that seemed to characterize sports,
especially hockey, in the not too distant past? That attitude that you
still find in weekend athletes – the one that says, no matter what
the injury you just keep playing. The attitude that you still overhear
in pubs and bars after pickup hockey games: “Yup, tore my MCL and
ACL clear in half last weekend, just wrapped the knee in duct tape and
iced it… didn’t miss a shift.” Or, “yup, skate blade took the
end right off my finger… just wrapped it in duct tape and….”
Well, you know the rest.
Where then, is that attitude in
today’s NHL. A quick look down previous injured reserve lists –
that is, players who are so debilitated as to miss at least a week of
playing time – reveals the following “terminal” conditions: flu,
bruised ribs, personal problems, finger injuries, sore thumbs,
viruses, CHICKEN POX!! and my personal favourite, REST. At one point
last season I had seven injuries – none worse than the flu, but all
enough to send players to press box. These are players earning, on
average, $800,000 per season – and they can’t play through a
virus?
So, by now you’re probably wondering,
fair enough… this is a decent rant, but how is it related to advice
for chicks, or even for hockey poolies in general? Well this started
off to be a column on players who were safe bets because they were
unlikely to miss substantial time due to injury. And so, after an
unnecessarily long-winded intro, “Chicks” offers the following
awards to players who, based upon past performance, are unlikely to
miss substantial playing time with injuries, personal problems, or
even, the dreaded need for “rest”:
- The “Iron Man” Award: to Tony
Amonte of course, who hasn’t missed a game since the
1996/1997 season; now that’s what the NHL used to be about
- The “Where The Heck is Aneroid,
Saskatchewan Anyway” Award: to Patrick
Marleau – six games missed in four seasons
- The “Carol Alt Must Be Good For
You” Award: to Alexei
Yashin – missed four games last year, but a perfect
attendance record in the four years before that
- The “Don Cherry Isn’t Right
About All Europeans” Award: to Janne
Niinimaa – a hard working defenseman who seldom misses a
game for any reason; in fact, only four missed games in the past
four years
- The “Pact With The Devil” Award:
to Miroslav
Satan – fifteen games missed in 6 and a half seasons –
only four in the past three years
Next column: the “Held Together with
Bandaids and a Prayer” awards.
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Want more "Chicks"? See 2001/02 