Afraid to play again after injury...Help me to get back!!

flea · College Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 41

Last April i broke my left collar bone (that is glove side to me) from a high shot.In three days from today we will have a friendly game and three days after that game we will have our first practice for the season..That friendly game will be my first ice time since the day the injury occured (that is mid April).I feel a bit nervous and i am a bit afraid to get back to the ice after my injury...Can you please give me some tips and thought cause i REALLY want to overcome my bad thoughts and find my game again!please help!

flea · College Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 41

Please guys!!Anyone?

flea · College Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 41

There are 27 views and noone is answering..I really dont know why...Not feeling good about it..

canadian_man_44 · Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2010 9:25 am Post subject:

Hey Flea. I haven't been on in awhile so I missed your post the last time around. Did you get in the game? If so, how did it go for you?

The only thing you can do in a situation like this is get back in a "friendly" game that really doesn't matter as far as the outcome. I've done this kind of thing before(not a broken collarbone but I busted up my knee from a slapshot that caught it just right). It is not easy to get back between the pipes after injury. Your head will be telling you it's going to hurt on pretty much every shot for the first little while but after you've had some big slappers hit you without pain, it will come back.

Good luck buddy and let us know how it goes.
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flea · College Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 41

Hello!Its getting better practice after practice i guess...My angles are a bit off sometimes.One problem i still face is when i am having a slapshot from the blue line i am a bit afraid to go down on buterfly thus tending to let cheap goals because of stand up position..Any advices for that?Thank you very much for your interest!

canadian_man_44 · Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 8:54 pm Post subject:

That's a tough one Flea. You might try getting in the butterfly during warmup with 7 or 8 guys lined up across the blue line taking shots at you. After you've taken a bunch of shots from there that don't hurt you, it might recondition your brain to it. Our brains naturally think on the first few shots that it is going to hurt which is why a lot of guys tend to flinch early on in warmups. This is especially hard after an on ice injury....especially one that happened from getting hit with a puck. Try that drill and hopefully it works out for you.
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Cappy83 · Peewee Joined: 14 Mar 2011 Posts: 6 Location: Eastern Wa

I had the same fear after my first bad injury (broken ribs) not as a goaltender but as a center. I got double teamed into the boards by two guys who were at least 6'4 broke 3 ribs and cracked another. I was out the rest of the season. By the time the next season came around I was scared to death. I was in bantams where checking was allowed and encouraged. I luckily had an amazing coach that was able to get me over that fear by running what he called "soft" checking drills. After about 4 practices I got comfortable with checking again. After my brain figured out it wasnt going to hurt like that every time.

As a goaltender I had a terrible fear of slap shots. Having taken a fast one to the collar bone in a summer camp that left me with a hair line fracture in my collar bone. Again my coach used lots of shooting drills to get me over my fear. I still shy away from it a little bit not as much as I did after the injury.

Also as a new goaltender I was a bit timid about coming out and facing a shooter resulting in me getting scored on 90% of the time. Its all a mental issue. You've gotten some good advice and some good drill ideas from the other guys on here. I just wanted to share my side of your story Smile

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Michelle