When Phil Kessel got over the initial shock of being diagnosed with cancer and had surgery, he asked doctors, “When can I play?” When Jason Blake was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, he had the choice of taking a chemotherapy
When Phil Kessel got over the initial shock of being diagnosed with cancer and had surgery, he asked doctors, “When can I play?”
When Jason Blake was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, he had the choice of taking a chemotherapy pill or having a bone marrow transplant that would cause him to miss a full season. He chose the pill and got back on the ice.
After his cancer diagnosis last month, New Jersey Devils forward Brian Boyle quickly turned his attention to playing hockey again. He will join a group of NHL players who played with cancer or after beating the disease, including Kessel, Blake, Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta, former Montreal Canadiens captain Saku Koivu and Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux.
“This (stuff) rocks your world,” said Blake, who played six more seasons after being diagnosed with CML, the same type of bone marrow cancer Boyle is now fighting. “It’s tough. I think it doesn’t matter how old you are, who you are. When someone says you have cancer, it definitely turns your world upside down.”
Now 44 and retired, Blake reached out to Boyle last month to offer his support. Blake said if his situation had come up five years earlier, doctors would’ve given him a 50/50 chance of living five to seven more years and is glad Boyle can benefit from even more advanced technology.
Blake said medication “shocked my system” and made him lose a lot of weight. He still feels tired but was glad to have his Toronto Maple Leafs teammates and hockey to distract him from his battle with cancer when he wasn’t with his wife and three children.
“That’s the one positive or plus that every time I went to the rink, you kind of just forget about it,” Blake said. “Those are distractions, and those are good distractions in this case. I understand what (Boyle) is going through, but I understand the person that he is, he’s a character guy and I know that he’ll get through this no problem.”
Kessel said Boyle has a great support system from his family, teammates and players around the league.
“Having a positive attitude toward the fight is important,” Kessel said. “He needs to listen to the professionals and do whatever you can to return to the game.”
Kessel was found to have testicular cancer at age 19 and recently partnered with Cigna on the NHL’s “Every Save Counts” program to raise awareness and money for cancer research. After noticing a lump and having surgery early in his rookie season in 2006-07, Kessel was back on the ice in 11 days.
“I love the game and I knew that because I was in good shape that this would help me in returning as quickly as I could,” Kessel said. “I didn’t want to miss any games. I was fortunate that I came back as soon as I did.”
Longtime coach and general manager Bryan Murray, who lost his battle with colon cancer this past summer at age 74, said he wanted early detection to be part of his legacy. Nephew Tim Murray, a former Buffalo Sabres GM, was one of several people around hockey who immediately got a colonoscopy.
Kessel hopes he can have the same effect.
“If partnering with Cigna to share my personal health story can encourage others to get a check-up with their doctor and potentially save a life, that’s a huge win for me,” said Kessel, who has won the Stanley Cup with Maatta for Lemieux’s Penguins each of the past two seasons. “Being a voice for early detection and regular check-ups will always be my priority.”
Lemieux missed two months after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1993 at age 27 and then took a leave of absence because of fatigue brought on by radiation treatments. Upon his return, “Super Mario” led the league with 69 goals, 92 assists and 161 points and won the Hart Trophy as MVP.
Koivu missed most of 2001-02 with a form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, set a new career high with 71 points the next year and played 11 more NHL seasons. Maatta, who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2014, returned two weeks after surgery.
“When I found out I had a tumor, it’s scary,” Maatta said. “It’s a scary word. Every situation’s different. There are different stages, and mine was really harmless and easy to take out. … The more we found out about it, the less scary it was for me. I was lucky with that.”
Lemieux, Kessel, Blake, Koivu and Maatta provide examples for Boyle that he can not only keep playing but at a high level.
“I’m expecting to live my life, to live a normal life,” Boyle said. “Hopefully the season can go on as normal, as regular as possible. We don’t have to be asking about it all the time. And if I suck one night, it’s because I sucked, not because of any other reason and hopefully if that’s the biggest issue, then that’s a good thing.”
HOCKEY AND POLITICS
Tampa Bay Lightning forward J.T. Brown on Saturday night became the first hockey player to engage in a national anthem protest when he stood on the bench with his fist raised in the air. Brown said he received death threats and racist remarks on Twitter after his protest but defended his decision to bring light to “police brutality, racial injustice and inequality” in the U.S.
“I know it may not sit well with everyone, but to truly make change in this world we must be able to be pushed outside of our comfort zone,” Brown said on Twitter. “I want young minorities to see that what they may be going through is not being ignored by the hockey community.”
The Cup champion Penguins visited President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday, reiterating that it wasn’t about politics. Trump mostly stuck to hockey, and coach Mike Sullivan thought the ceremony went well.
LEADERS (through Tuesday)
Goals: Alex Ovechkin (Washington), 7; Assists: Evgeny Kuznetsov (Washington), 8; Points: Kuznetsov, 8; Time on ice: Alex Pietrangelo (St. Louis), 27:02. Goals-against average: Sergei Bobrovsky (Columbus), 0.48; Save percentage: Bobrovsky, .985.
GAME OF THE WEEK
The defending Western Conference champion Nashville Predators on Saturday night visit the Chicago Blackhawks, who they swept in the first round of the playoffs last spring.
———
Follow Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SWhyno
———
For more AP NHL coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey
