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TSN Hockey Analyst

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With the double injuries to Roberto Luongo and Al Montoya on Tuesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, there have been a lot of "what if" questions surrounding the scenario.

What's amazing about this is how it hasn't happened more often, given the nature of how physical the game is now, the amount of games played and the fact that guys play through injuries all the time.

There are a ton of stories, especially in the minor leagues, of how a team was short a goaltender and the trainer had to dress. Or the emergency back-up who was called up to the team but his bus or plane was delayed, so they went with one goaltender for the game, and it didn't matter what the score was.

I have played in or been a part of several games where either I was backing up, my back-up was sick or slightly banged up or you knew he wasn't available to play in the game, but he dressed nonetheless just to fill a jersey. Somehow you found a way to make it through the game without actually having to rely on their services.

With the St. Louis Blues, I was the backup behind Grant Fuhr and we were on a Western road swing playing in San Jose one night. In the morning skate, it was business as usual until I took a shot on the blocker hand where the puck rolled up the shaft of my stick and hit my index finger and my thumb all in one. I fractured both of them in the sack between the thumb and forefinger or it somehow ruptured and exploded; either way it was quite painful and swollen.

Our outstanding trainer did a very good job of assessing everything and taking care of me. He put a soft cast on me, and we deemed that we were going to try to make it through the game that night. Given that I wasn't starting, I would avoid shots in warm-up, sit on the bench, make it through the game and deal with it when I got back to St. Louis the next morning. The unfortunate part was, early in the second period, Fuhr tweaked his knee and had to be helped off the ice. I was thrust into playing no matter how I felt.

I quickly skated over to the bench, had the trainer cut off the soft cast, put on a little freezing spray to help take the bite out and did my best to hold my stick while I went into the game. The guys on the bench knew I was banged up, and they did an amazing job of limiting shots and scoring chances, and I believe we ended up tying the game, 2-2.

When we flew back to St. Louis, I had the necessary tests done and there were some structural issues but the fact that I was able to finish the game and battle through it gave me a leg to stand on to start the next game. Despite being in a lot of pain to the hand injury, I was able to start a stretch of games which was quite rare when you were playing behind Grant.

I remember being in the minors one time and my goaltender partner had hurt his groin. I was having back spasms and wasn't sure if I was going to be able to fight through the game. All afternoon, I was worked on by a chiropractor and massage therapist to try and loosen it up or at least get it moving so I could play that night. We didn't have anybody that we could call up from the East Coast League on that short of notice so a friend of the trainers showed up. He was pretty old and certainly wasn't in game shape and, coming from the chubby goalie I was, for me to say that was significant.

I struggled through the game, the team played well and we got out to a good lead. With about 10 minutes left in the game and a good lead, I asked my defenceman to go ask if he wanted to get into the game. He was terrified and said he did not want to, so I thought with about three minutes left I would collapse and take myself out of the game. By then, the players were in on it, so when the time came and a whistle happened, I threw myself on the ice and began to scream. I could see him panic on the bench but our coach was not privy to it and told the guys that he couldn't go in because of a contractual issue.

It would have been a scenario that could have had ramifications that kept me out of the next game, so I jumped up and he didn't get to play in the game. He really wasn't keen on playing. He hadn't done his skates up tight, his feet were sore and, before he had gotten the call that afternoon, he had consumed a few beers with his lunch, so it would not have been an ideal situation.

There are more stories out there than you think about this happening at all levels. The one thing I admired about Luongo and Montoya was they battled through obvious pain and possible further injury so that Poor Robb Tallas didn't have to go in.