Boston Bruins' defenseman Johnny Boychuk left Saturday's afternoon matinee after being guided into the end boards by the Hurricane's Patrick Dwyer - blades first - striking awkwardly, then lay prone on the ice while absorbing the initial wave of pain before skating off gingerly, as it were...
...only to return for more punishment, as on the very next shift, the Rocket took a puck off the same foot and again hit the ice in agony before limping off, using his stick an an impromptu cane.
“I mean, after you get hit with a slap shot it’s more laughter I guess," Boychuk said after the game. "because it’s just you can’t really do anything but laugh because you get it on the same side that it hurts so bad. You just have to laugh at it.”
Once the adrenalin from the game wore off, it's pretty certain that Boychuk wasn't in the laughing mood, nor was he on Monday morning when he showed up for the team's skate and couldn't go.
"He didn't skate this morning because he can't," bench boss Claude Julien said on Monday morning. "Right now he's too sore, so he's day-to-day. It's from obviously the incident, and so he couldn't skate this morning. He came in early and we tried to see if he could and he couldn't."
There is no reported structural damage to the foot, and he was seen walking around the locker room in New Jersey on Tuesday afternoon without a noticeable limp, but Julien will hold him out at least once more game.
No Johnny Boychuk tonight, per Claude Julien. Still having discomfort putting his foot in skating boot. Maybe later in the wk #BruinsTalk
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) March 18, 2014
Boychuk should still be considered day-to-day, because he is a hockey player, after all, and he laughs at pain.
No comments:
Post a Comment