Injured Descoteau Has Fond Memories
Derek Descoteau knew his right shoulder was fragile. Just how fragile was hammered home during Christmas break.
The Spokane Chiefs forward, who’ll undergo surgery Thursday, is out for the season. Home for Christmas, the 19-year-old Descoteau reached over to open his car door and pulled the troublesome shoulder out again.
“I had to put it back in myself that time,” he said from his Medicine Hat, Alberta, home. “That was a little painful.”
The shoulder was long gone before the incident in the car.
“I’ve had shoulder problems from baseball and stuff since I was 14,” he said. “I had rotator cuff problems last year. I hurt it in preseason this year and aggravated it a couple of times in practice. The problem took off from there.”
Prognosis following surgery is three months of rehabilitation, freeing Descoteau to start community college in Medicine Hat. Beyond that, the picture gets a little fuzzy.
He could return to the Western Hockey League as a 20-year-old, but the league will trim rosters from three 20-year-olds to two, starting next season.
With a WHL job hard to come by, it’s likely he’ll turn to college hockey. If his major junior career is over, Descoteau says he’ll move on without regret.
“This is quite a change,” he said. “I go from playing Portland and Tacoma on Wednesday nights to homework and essays.”
Beyond the friendships, he’ll miss the excitement.
“I’ll never forget running out on the ice, hearing the crowd roaring,” he said. “I loved playing in Spokane. I can’t say enough about what they did for me, how they took care of me.”
The Chiefs are in Medicine Hat for a Tuesday night game. He’s looking forward to the reunion.
McCabe an all-star
Chiefs defenseman Bryan McCabe tacked on another honor to his great season Tuesday - an invitation to play in the Jan. 31 Canadian Hockey League all-star game, the Chrysler Cup Challenge.
Stars from the WHL and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League will oppose an all-star team out of the Ontario league in Kitchener, Ontario.
McCabe will miss only one Chiefs game, Jan. 30 at home with Tacoma.
Other WHL selectees are Marty Murray, Brandon; Jeff Friesen, Regina; Adam Deadmarsh, Portland; Daymond Langkow and Terry Ryan, Tri-City; Ryan Smith, Moose Jaw; and Darcy Tucker, Nolan Baumgartner and coach Don Hay of Kamloops.
McCabe, incidentally, won’t move up should the NHL solve its labor problems.
Although he signed with the New York Islanders, McCabe returned to Spokane early enough in the season that he can’t be called up, coach Mike Babcock said.
Prince George isn’t so bad
Tacoma Rockets owner Bruce Hamilton recalls playing junior hockey for Saskatoon in 1975 when the team traveled north 400 miles to Flin Flon, Manitoba.
“Back then, when Flin Flon was in the league, they’d always give us the worst, ricketiest bus,” Hamilton told Tacoma sports writer Bart Wright. “A couple hundred miles of it was gravel road that would tear apart the underside of the bus.
“The windows had two panes,” Hamilton went on, “but when it got real cold, you’d still get a buildup of a half an inch or so of frost on the inside window.
“Guys would fall asleep. They’d wake up with their hair frozen to the window.”
Now that’s a real bad-hair day.
Three-dot stuff …
The Chiefs go into tonight’s game against Portland without assistant captain Kevin Sawyer, who’s serving a one-game, league-mandated suspension following his match penalty in Sunday night’s Seattle game… . Forward John Cirjak, who sat out Sunday’s game with back pain, is listed as day-to-day… . Other Chiefs who may be held out are Jared Hope (knee), Jon Shockey (hip) and Mike Haley (knee). … Todd Robinson, in the Coliseum tonight with the Winter Hawks, leads WHL 16-year-olds in points with 46… . Portland right wing Layne Roland is building on a Winter Hawks record for games played. He’s at 291… . Former Chiefs coach Butch Goring will direct the West squad in next week’s International Hockey League All-Star Game in Las Vegas.