Okay so I have not blogged in awhile due to partial writers block. Other than the typical fun and informational tidbits that I leave on the boards chatting with you all. Well now that a little time has passed, the dust has settled, and that our wounds have been licked, I’d like to dive into a subject that I just did not want to get into too quickly after our beloved Boyz In Teal got bounced from the playoffs in fear of sounding like I was reaching for sad excuses! INJURIES! I hate it when I hear others use injuries as an excuse, even though they are definitley part of the game. Which leads me to the What If’s and also adding in that other dimension which is so often over looked on just how luck and all of the pieces need to fall into place in order to win a championship in any sport! We all no how teams go at great lenghts to keep injuries hidden. A fractured leg is listed as a head cold…A pulled hamstring is listed as the player is suffering from allergies and so on! Back on May 8th the SJ Sharks site finally ran a story on what the true blue injuries that our guys were going to war and into battle with. FIRST OFF – I want to issue my apology to Mike Grier stating to many that I thought for the first time in his career he was starting to show his age with the way he was playing…Not knowing like the true trooper that he is, was playing through a nasty leg injury that will be scoped this offseason. That’s just to start!!! Other than the known Kyle McLaren groin injury we all knew about (and man was a healthy McLaren missed in the playoffs)and Milan Michalek’s shoulder injury he suffered at the end of regulation of the marathon game, here are some of the other injuries that you all may or may have not known about. Christian Ehrhoff – High Ankle Sprain; Brian Campbell – MCL & Shoulder Sprain; Craig Rivet – Wrist, Knee, & Ankle Sprains; Patrick Marleau – Shoulder Sprain; Jonathan Cheechoo—MCL Sprain; Devin Setoguchi – Shoulder Sprain & Sports Hernia; Patrick Rissmiller – Sports Hernia; Joe Thornton – Got an MRI due to a hit recieved in the marathon game; Curtis Brown – Got an MRI on the opposite hand of the pre-exsisting thumb injury. Quite the list huh? It makes me think what if we were healthy? Would we have proceeded farther into the playoffs? Now I know, every team suffers and plays through injuries. The better team rise above and move on to get that elusive championship. But I trully believe that injuries are a major factor and the team with that is lucky enough to suffer the fewest becomes the victor on most occassions.