AUBURN – All he was trying to do was kill a penalty. Now, Lewiston Maineiacs forward Colby Gilbert will be sidelined indefinitely with severe pain between his shoulders and in his neck.
“All I know is that I was killing a penalty,” said Gilbert. “The next thing I knew I was looking up at Tom (Bourdon, the team’s trainer). I remember getting onto the flatboard with my skates still on, too. I felt my head hit the boards and then I head a crunch, like I was at the chiropractors and they had cracked my back, but it felt a lot worse than that. I’d never felt anything like that.”
The play happened Friday night in Drummondville. Gilbert was trying to clear the puck from the zone high in his own zone. As he turned to gain possession of the puck as it rolled around the dasher, he took a cross check from behind by Drummondville forward Guillaume Latendresse that sent him sprawling into the boards.
“I already had a minor concussion before,” said Gilbert. With everyone out, I wanted to play. Now with this, I don’t know how long it will take.”
A CT scan Saturday morning revealed no initial bone damage to Gilbert’s spine or cranium, but his pain remained intense.
“I never lost consciousness or anything,” said Gilbert. “But I wasn’t all there. I was shocked, and actually scared. I can imagine that’s normal when something like that happens.”
Luckily Gilbert’s parents accompanied the team to Drummondville as part of a fan-bus trip, and they remained behind in Drummondville to look after him. Coach Clem Jodoin had driven up separately from the team due to an illness earlier in the week, and he left his car behind for the Gilberts to use while he jumped on the bus with the players.
“I didn’t know that had happened at all,” said Gilbert. “All night, they had given me morphine, so I was pretty much out of it, and when I was waiting this morning, I saw my Dad pull up in Clem’s car. That was great hospitality by him to let us use it.”
Gilbert did not rule out a return to the ice.
“If I feel better in a week, in a week and two days or even four to five days, I’ll be ready,” said Gilbert. “It’s not like I don’t want to play or anything. I might want to play more than anyone right now, but I am not going to take chances, either. I have to know the limits, and when you try to push those, that’s when you can get hurt even worse.”
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