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Tuesday, November 9, 1999
Hurts so bad
Battered blueline didn't need loss of Smith, even if he was struggling
No shrinking violet he, Steve Smith, a highly-decorated veteran of the campaigns, has been indellibly marked by the telltale scars of war.
"I've gone through shoulder surgery, have been cut and bruised and bent out of shape and beat up,'' sighed the Flames' defenceman yesterday. "But I've never, never, experienced anything that painful.
"When the doctor popped the elbow back in, it was all I could do to keep from screaming.''
Brian Sutter, either.
Smith, of course, is his captain; quite literally the man's on-ice conscience. He represents an average of 25.8 minutes a night on the blueline, telling minutes, second only to Derek Morris (27.33).
"Smitty's our leader,'' said Sutter. "The guy our young kids look up to; to emulate. And on top of that, he's still a mean sucker.''
Smith was injured Saturday evening as he went to eliminate Rob Niedermayer of the Panthers along the boards, near the Flames' bench, in the third period. The hit was awkward, the damage immediate, Smith immediately dropping to one knee in pain.
He was whisked off to hosptial for x-rays and trudged home about 2 a.m. Monday morning outfitted in a sling and cast on his left arm, sore and angry.
The injury couldn't have come at a more inopportune time, what with Denis Gauthier (strained shoulder) and Wade Belak (head trauma) -- who, along with Smith, are Calgary's most robust defencemen -- either definitely out of the lineup or generously listed as questionable.
The Flames have recalled Darrel Scoville from Saint John, beset by injuries on defence themselves -- Lee Sorochan and Eric Charron have been felled by knee injuries.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement for the league's most generous defensive team, heading into a twirl tomorrow night against the 11-6-1 San Jose Sharks, hockey's highest-octane outfit.
"My arm bent the opposite way it was supposed to, sticking out in the wrong direction. I thought I'd broken it. It had come completely out of the joint.''
So, it seemed, had Steve Smith's game.
For much of this early season, quite frankly, Smitty's been ... (choose -- eliminating witty or pretty from the choices -- your own word rhyming with 'Smitty' to finish the sentence). These have been a hellish six months for Smith, beginning with the nerve damage to his neck late last season that kept him from the unsuccessful playoff push; to the osteomyllitis, a bone affliction, in his foot/ankle area that kept him off skates all summer; to this latest discouragement.
Not one to sugar-coat any situation, Smith readily admits he's been sub-par thus far (a team worst -10 stat reflecting that fact).
"And that's the most frustrating part,'' he says, sitting up the stands during practice, swapping stories with Belak and Hall of Famer Bert Olmstead. "It was a difficult summer for me.
"I had the problem with the ankle infection. For the first 10 games of the season, I couldn't tie up my skate laces. It's just been the last four or five games where I've started to feel my legs underneath me.
"Up until then, my play has been a disappointment to myself and, what's worse, to my teammates.''
Smith's start has mirrored his team's.
"Defensively,'' he lectures gently, "we've simply got to tighten up. That's pretty obvious. And offensively ... well, I think all we're lacking is a little belief. We're not playing good defence and showing enough faith in that to understand it'll lead to scoring chances.
"We're trying too hard to make it happen right away. I've been around a while and I know looking at our lineup that we've got enough goals in us to be alright.
"But, like I said, there's an air of self-doubt right now that we've somehow got to get over.''
That, and the decimation of the blueline corps at the moment. Right now, the Flames are equipped with six healthy defencemen.
"Obviously, we're going to be as aggressive about this as possible,'' said Smith.
As to a possible length of absence, Smith begged off, saying, "I couldn't hazard a guess.''
He was scheduled to visit an elbow specialist at the U of C yesterday afternoon, hoping for a more definitive answer by this morning.
"At the moment all I know for sure, '' he said resignedly, "is that the elbow hurts.''
Watching, it goes without saying, will in no time at all begin to hurt worse.
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