For a few weeks already, Stéphane Fiset has seen a bit the same thing as all of us when he comes across images of Carey Price.
Posted at 6:10 p.m.
He also sees the Canadian goalkeeper who works hard in training, who multiplies stretching and warm-ups, who tries by all means to return to the game at the end of the season which no longer means anything.
The difference with us is that Stéphane Fiset has already been there.
PHOTO IVANOH DEMERS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Stephane Fiset
“I watch him go, and I can understand very well how he must be feeling,” said the former NHL goaltender, who played 390 games with the Nordiques, Avalanche, Kings and Canadiens, over the phone. .
When you’re a goalkeeper, you have a knee injury and you’re trying to come back, it can get very frustrating. One day, you feel better, and all of a sudden your knee starts to swell again, and you have to start over. So I can totally understand what Carey must be going through right now…
Stephane Fiset
It was in 2001-2002, after 13 seasons in the NHL, that Fiset came to a painful conclusion: his knees no longer wanted to continue. After severe injuries, “on both sides in addition”, the Quebec goalkeeper, a second-round choice of the Nordiques in the 1988 draft, must stop everything at 32 years old.
Carey Price is not there, and God willing, he will use this biblical weekend to make the kind of comeback that could be described as a sporting resurrection. That wouldn’t be our first overdone comparison these days.
But the Canadiens are there: hoping for this big comeback, whether it’s Friday at the Bell Center against the New York Islanders, or Saturday night at the same place, this time against the Washington Capitals.
Stéphane Fiset obviously did not have the opportunity to consult the results of Price’s knee tests, and he is not his doctor either, but he believes that the Canadiens’ goalkeeper should be able to become the one he is. it once was.
“I think he will be able to regain his level of play, he adds. In my opinion, all he wants right now is to play three or four games without having to suffer a setback in his progress. If he can manage it, he will be able to undertake his summer training program with peace of mind, without having to spend the summer asking himself questions. This end is quite important: he needs to know that everything is fine with his knee, so that nothing negative goes through his head this summer.
“But I repeat, it is not easy. I’ve seen him go for a few months, and it reminds me of my own challenges when I was trying to get back into the game after suffering knee injuries. I did the same thing: practice off the ice, then practice on the ice, and then we stop everything because the knee starts to swell again, and we don’t really know why. Of course, it can become discouraging, and you have to have very strong morale to start from scratch and continue. He has had to start all over again three times this season. »
For Stéphane Fiset, active during a time, the 1990s, when goalkeepers were often the target of checks from opposing players unaccustomed to any form of delicacy, it was collisions that ended up have to wear. In the case of Carey Price, it is more nebulous; however, everything seemed to be going very well for him in the spring of 2021…
“But there is also the butterfly style and the wear and tear that comes with this position, added the Quebec goalkeeper. It’s not an easy position and I remember due to the repeated impacts I had to wear knee braces… But I think if Carey can put in a good performance by the end of the season, that’s fine become very clear in his head… and we will see the Carey of the beautiful days next October. »