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Wednesday, September 22, 1999
Hurts so bad
Smith's ankle keeping him hobbled
The right foot. The non-hurting foot.
Smith slipped his right skate on as a demonstration, pulling the laces slack and then gingerly tied a soft, loose knot.
"Honest, this is how I've had to go through the entire camp," sighed the Flames' defenceman.
"Only with the other foot."
While most of his teammates were prepping for their exhibition date down east with the Leafs, Smith was at the 'Dome, kibitzing around with Phil Housley, Tommy Albelin, Rene Corbet, Robyn Regehr and Grant Fuhr, testing his tender left ankle and gauging a possible return to the lineup
Smith has yet to play in a pre-season game, only three remain and the opener is but a week and a half away, at the Shark Tank.
"I know," he said, "that Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe liked their laces loose -- Gordie'd even get his kids to walk around with 'em undone to work on balance -- but, hey, I'm not Gordie Howe or Bobby Orr."
No, but he's a pretty important asset to this hockey team. Smith pulled down his left sweat sock to reveal an ankle with two tiny holes in the skin, the result of off-season treatment for osteomylelitis, a bone afflction.
"Looks like a vampire bite, doesn't it?
"The problem is the skin has to grow back from underneath. It's not like a normal cut where the skin grows over the wound. So it takes a little time."
He certainly doesn't want to spend any more time missing time, though.
"Of course, I'd like to play on the weekend. I'll talk to Brian (Sutter) about it when the team gets back. I skated yesterday with the juniors and again today, and the difference between now and, say, even three or four days ago is unbelievable.
"So I'm hoping."
Any chance he might still be struggling with this in 10 days time, when the regular season begins?
"After going through what I did with my back, to get to a point where I could play and continue playing," replied Smith, "it'd sure tick me off if I had to miss any games because of an ankle."
Winger Rene Corbet, meanwhile, has been medically cleared to return to combat, after having his bell rung in a pre-season game.
"Last week I was a little weak, but I'm starting to feel better, stronger. I'd like to play one or two this weekend. That's why they give you nine exhibition games. To get ready."
Defenceman Cale Hulse (broken bone, hand) and centre Jason Wiemer (knee) aren't going to be ready anytime soon, although Wiemer is scheduled to have the knee looked at soon.
Hulse, of course, injured his hand during a fight with Montreal's Andre Roy during the weekend's exhibitions.
"A week from now I'll take this thing off" -- a soft, flexible cast -- "and replace it with a brace that's moulded to my hand," he explained. "That'll be better. From there, we'll see how it goes. I've never had a broken bone before.
"The good thing is that the break is at the back of the hand, not a finger or a knuckle.
"I'm not putting a timetable on this because if I say three weeks, and then I'm not ready in three weeks, I'll be disappointed."
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