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Tuesday, June 12, 2001
Sakic still silent on injury's severity
Associated Press
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DENVER -- The injury to Joe Sakic's shoulder during the
Western Conference semifinals was worse than what the Avalanche
captain said publicly, teammate Rob Blake said.
Sakic missed Games 4 and 5 against the Los Angeles Kings. He
came back for Game 6 but didn't take any faceoffs.
"He probably would have missed a month if it was during the
regular season," Blake said. "Not a lot of people understood what
he had to go through to play through that and not let anything
bother him.
"He's the true leader of this team. He was hurt bad. I don't
know if he'll mention it now, but if it was during the regular
season, he wouldn't have been on the ice for a while."
The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup on Saturday. Blake said Sakic
never said a word to the players about his condition.
"He kept everything between him and the trainers," he said.
"The therapy he did was after practice. It wasn't around us. He
didn't want anybody to know. No matter what happened the next game
he played, he didn't want anybody to know what was going on."
Sakic led all playoff scorers with 26 points on 13 goals and 13
assists. He would not elaborate Monday on his shoulder.
"I'm not going to say anything now," he said. "It was fine."
Sakic becomes an unrestricted free agent July 1. He could
command a salary of about $10 million a year after a season in
which he finished second in the NHL in scoring with 118 points.
He is a finalist for the Hart (Most Valuable Player) and Lady
Byng (sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct) trophies and the Selke
Award (top defensive forward). He is the first player in 10 years
to be a finalist for all three awards.
The winners will be announced Thursday in Toronto.
"It's going to be fun to get to go there with all the guys,"
Sakic said. "It's a great honor to be there, but you don't get
there unless you're on a great team."
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