Columnist image

| Archive

Vancouver Canucks winger Brock Boeser had a rookie season to remember, scoring 29 times and leading the hockey club with 55 points. His season ended abruptly, however, with a frightening injury late in a March 5th game against the New York Islanders. Boeser suffered a small non-structural, non-displaced fracture of the transverse process in his lower back. He had not spoken about the injury until Wednesday when he opened up about his fears that night, his recovery process, concerns about a nagging wrist injury and about a future without Daniel and Henrik Sedin leading the way.

JP: Take me back to March 5th against the Islanders. We haven’t had the chance to talk to you since you were injured that night and taken to hospital. What do you recall about the play in question when you tried to hit Cal Clutterbuck and ended up hitting the boards at the open gate of the bench?

BB: I knew that I couldn’t cheat the game and I just tried to take the body and throw a big hit and right when I hit the boards, I knew I was hurt and I could tell something was wrong. There was a ton of pain in the left side of my back.

JP: How concerned were you?

BB: Yeah, with everything going on and having to take an ambulance to the hospital, it was pretty scary. It was a back injury and those can end your career, so yeah, it was scary.

JP: That was basically five weeks ago. The Canucks said it would be a four-to-six week recovery. How is the back and how are you feeling these days?

BB: I’m feeling good. The recovery is going well. I’m just doing some movement type stuff. I’m not working out yet, but I’m going to Hawaii with my family for a vacation and then I’ll probably be able to start working out after that.

JP: As far as you’re concerned though, everything’s on schedule and you’re not worried about any lingering effects of the injury?

BB: Yeah, as I said, I should be able to start working out after my trip and I hope I’m skating shortly after that. So everything appears to be on track and I’ll be ready for training camp for sure.

JP: How disappointing was it to have the season end that way? You’d done so much and no one ever wants to spend time on the shelf. So how tough was it to hear that your season was over with a month to go?

BB: It was hard. Obviously, you never want to miss any games. We weren’t in the playoffs, but you still want to finish the season strong with the guys. It was tough. I was having a pretty good year and to have to miss the final (games) wasn’t fun. But the way I look at it, is luckily I can still play and the injury wasn’t worse.

JP: Now (Canucks GM) Jim Benning surprised a lot of people on Monday when he announced you had already gone home to Minnesota to have your wrist looked at by a doctor? What can you tell us about that?

BB: Obviously, I hurt it against Tampa a couple of months ago and it was still hurting when I was playing. I wanted to see my own wrist doctor, so that’s why I came home to see the same doctor that did my wrist surgery last year. It’s not the same injury. I just have to do some treatment and rehab with that. I think I’m going to do a *PRP injection and then I’m going to have to immobilize my wrist for about four weeks.

* (PRP is platelet rich plasma therapy designed to use a patient’s own blood to help stimulate healing)

JP: So a different injury, but the same wrist?

BB: Yes, it is.

JP: But you won’t require any further surgery as far as you know?

BB: No, it should be able to heal with this injection and then give it some rest.

JP: That injury occurred in Tampa on February 8th, so you played another month with a sore wrist before you suffered the back injury. How much did the wrist bother you over the final month?

BB: It was bothering me. There were times when I would shoot the puck and I would definitely feel it. I think I was more hesitant to take one-timers at certain points and it kind of felt like I was at North Dakota at times. As time went on, right around when I got injured (against the Islanders) it was feeling pretty good again and unfortunately I got the back injury.

JP: A year ago at this time, you were processing your first nine games in the NHL and had an idea of what to expect. When you look back on your first full season that included 29 goals, the team MVP, the All-Star game and the All-Star MVP, how do you assess what you accomplished in your rookie season?

BB: Personally, I thought it was a good year and I had a lot of fun. But, obviously, our team wants to be better. I think I learned a lot from my first full year. There were times when I was a little bit tired, so I learned a lot about maintaining my body and how to keep my legs fresh. So there were a lot of takeaways and I think what I did this year gives me a lot of confidence going into next year and it really shows me what I can do and what I can be in this league.

JP: Finally, obviously the organization is entering into a period of transition with the Sedins playing their final games this past weekend. How exciting is it to see the next wave of young talent that is on its way and to be part of that group as you try to build the team back up again?

BB: I was really lucky to play with Danny and Hank and they did teach me a lot. And just watching that last home game, someone told me that’s what a playoff game is like. I think that showed a lot of the young guys on the team just how special it is. And looking at those young guys that are coming up, I think we’re all hopeful that in a few years we’re going to be a really, really good team.