::alio!::: At least I have something to show for it this time.

February 11, 2007

At least I have something to show for it this time.

This is a bruise I obtained last night from taking a slapshot in the back of the knee. Right where there is no padding. The really dark spot is where there was no padding at all, and the lighter spot is where there was a bit.

Photo 6.jpg

You will notice that the bruise is puck-shaped.

Yes.

It hurts a lot.

And alas, the photo doesn't capture its amazing range of colour.

Now I know how Volchenkov feels (I knew last time I took a shot, but I had no bruise from it, as only the bone bruised).

This is from Saturday's Ottawa Citizen:

THE RAINBOW WARRIOR
Blocking shots hurts, and the Senators' Anton Volchenkov has the bruises, in varying colours, to prove it

Wayne Scanlan, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Saturday, February 10, 2007

It's no exaggeration to say that Anton Volchenkov's bruises have bruises, his welts have welts, his aches have pains.

It hurts just looking at the lemon-sized welt above his left knee.

"This was not blocked shot; it was skate," Volchenkov says. "Third period, Toronto. Ponikarovsky fell down."

Volchenkov's teammates shake their head as the scene gets played out every time the Ottawa Senators play.

An enemy player winds up to shoot, Volchenkov drops down to block the puck, then scrambles back into the play. If the shot really stings, he might hobble to the bench.

Criminals throw themselves on the mercy of the court. Volchenkov throws himself at the mercy of the puck. High shots, low shots, body blows, ankle stingers.

He's the Russian version of a latter-day George Chuvalo. Volchenkov goes the distance. Every night. Every game.

Senators broadcaster Dean Brown could do a play-by-play just of Volchenkov's battered frame.

"On the road, where they do the treatments right in the dressing room, you see Anton's bruises and they're a kaleidoscope of colours," Brown says. "You've got the new ones that are red or black and the older ones are different shades of purple, blue and yellow."

Is Volchenkov ever afraid? Does he worry that the next shot he takes for the team could take him out?

"Ah, you know me," Volchenkov shrugs, smiling his gap-toothed grin. "It hurts, so you go to the bench, take some ice. You rest, then it's start of a new day, a new game."

Though no defenceman in the NHL is close to Volchenkov's total of 193 blocked shots, an astounding average of 3.6 per game, there are other defencemen who sacrifice their bodies. If they take it off the foot and limp off, everyone in the building wonders if it's a broken foot. The biggest trees in the NHL have been known to fall. This year, Chris Pronger suffered a fractured foot from a point shot.

The other night in Buffalo, Volchenkov was hurting badly as he limped to the Ottawa bench. A minute later, rinkside TSN analyst Pierre McGuire leaned in to ask Senators defenceman Tom Preissing if Volchenkov was OK.

"He's a 300-pound Russian bear," Preissing said. "He'll be fine."

Does Senators head coach Bryan Murray ever worry about his assistant goaltender as he hobbles to the bench?

"Every time," Murray says. "But the one thing I know, when he comes off the ice, all bruised up -- if you look at him, he has got more bruises than probably anybody in the league -- but he doesn't miss games.

"It would take something real bad for that to happen. He had a bad ankle early in the year. The normal player would have said he needed a game or two. 'No, no,' he says, 'maybe I need a day off practice, but I'm going to play.'

"He's a shot blocker, he's a competitive guy, he's a big, gritty guy, and the most important thing from a coaching point of view, you can count on him being available every night."

Foot shots tend to bother Volchenkov most. "Early in the year, it was the arm, now it's foot, I don't know why," he says.

Perhaps because those foot shots, even the ones that don't break bones, have staying power. (Would a fracture stop him, anyway?)

Volchenkov is still sore from a foot shot off the stick of the Boston Bruins' Glen Murray a couple of weeks ago.

Thursday's critical victory over the Montreal Canadiens was vintage Volchenkov.

Usually matched against the Canadiens' top line of Saku Koivu, Chris Higgins and Michael Ryder, Volchenkov played 22 minutes 36 seconds, blocked six shots, was plus two and chipped in two assists. He was named the game's top star, a rare centre-stage acknowledgement of his unsung talents.

Hockey fans relate to point producers. Their pools depend on them. Shot-blocking, stay-home defencemen? They have the faces and style of game only coaches or teammates could love.

Volchenkov says shot blocking has helped him get more ice time in Ottawa, while developing his overall talents. When Zdeno Chara left as a free agent, the Senators brought in two defencemen, Joe Corvo and Preissing, to help fill the gap. It turned out the shut-down replacement, and Chris Phillips' new partner, was here along: the 6-1, 226-pound Russian drafted by Ottawa 21st overall in 2000. Volchenkov turns 25 on Feb. 25.

"I like playing against big lines," he says. "Every game, I learn something against the best players."

He has zero goals and 14 assists, rarely sees power-play time. Yet, look who is having a career year, a breakout year, as an impact player. Heaven help the Senators if this guy blocks one shot too many and is lost for any playoff time.

"Every team has guys who play that priority role," Murray says. "We all start to depend on people, and if you lose them, it's a big hole."

Murray says that was the case last year when the team was build around Dominik Hasek, then lost him.

"Well, Anton has become one of those cornerstone guys on our team," Murray says.

A kaleidoscope cornerstone.

Posted by Ally at February 11, 2007 12:09 PM

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