Clendenning back on ice
Published Friday November 13th, 2009
Jordan Clendenning finally got the Red light.
The 22-year-old centre made his season debut with the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds on the road last week, six months after knee surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament and clean the meniscus in his left knee.
"He defies expectations of injury rehabilitation," said UNB coach Gardiner MacDougall, who will gladly insert the industrious sophomore into the lineup again this weekend. The V-Reds host the St. Francis Xavier X-Men tonight and the Dalhousie Tigers tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at the Aitken Centre.
"The worst-case scenario for a guy coming back from double surgery was sometime in January. The best-case scenario was maybe a game or two at the end of the first semester or the exhibition schedule."
And yet, there was Clendenning last weekend, doing double duty no less: on the left wing with Daine Todd in the middle and Taylor Procyshen, or in the middle between Ryan Seymour and Nick Layton as the situation warranted.
Call it making up for lost time.
"We're fortunate that a player like him wants to be back in the lineup as fast as possible," MacDougall said. "You can't take that away. That's part of what makes him what he is. That being said, you want to make sure that when he gets back in the lineup, the knee is 100 per cent, and his conditioning is as close as it can be. Certainly it's a work in progress."
Certainly, it's not in Clendenning's nature to say "Mission accomplished."
He had surgery in late May, did rehab work all summer with physiotherapist Rob Willcott, began skating again in training camp in September and then had conditioning to catch up on too. He finally returned to his role with the reigning Canadian Interuniversity Sport champions a month or so ahead of even the most optimistic projections. Clearly, Clendenning didn't get where he is by being satisfied.
"It feels great," he said, and while he was talking specifically about his left knee, he might have been talking simply about being back as a fully functioning member of the V-Reds.
The left knee - the one Dr. Tom Barnhill repaired by taking a tendon from his hamstring and turning it into a new ACL, cleaning out the torn meniscus as well - "feels as good as my right knee," he said. "I'm playing 100 per cent right now."
Clendenning said he wasn't conscious or overprotective of the knee at all.
"Sometimes people come back from injuries and surgery and they have it in their head they're going to favour it, but I don't find that at all," Clendenning said. "I played physical, I got in the corners ... I wanted to make sure when I did come back to the lineup that I was right on the same page with the rest of the team."
He even got on the scoresheet in the 5-1 win over the Tigers, drawing an assist on a goal by Lachlan MacIntosh. He was 6-1 on faceoffs too.
"I don't feel like I was out of place at all," Clendenning said. "There were a lot of days when it was tough to have to watch the team and watch the guys play. As a hockey player, you want to be contributing to the wins and helping your team out."
Clendenning helped the V-Reds nail down the national championship last season. Yet the V-Reds went 8-1 in exhibition play and reeled off six more regular season wins while he watched. Clendenning admitted there was some concern about losing his job.
"You always have that in the back of your head," he admitted. "Right now, I'm playing, but we're going to have 15 forwards ... you have to come to practice every day and compete for your spot. I think every player on our team would feel that, because any player on our team can play on any line in any position. You have to be ready to bring 100 per cent every time you come to the rink."
That's never been a problem for Clendenning.
"I think it makes you a better player to compete against each other like that," he said.
Clendenning is glad to have the whole thing over with.
"I'm done my rehab and now I'm off to the races as far as playing," he said. "My knee feels great. It doesn't bother me at all. It's not sore or anything."
The V-Reds are 8-0, three points ahead of the second-place X-Men, who pushed them to overtime last Friday night before losing 4-3. Alex Aldred's goal at 1:14 of overtime clinched the victory for the V-Reds, who will be missing defenceman Josh Kidd with a charley horse this weekend. Sophomore blueliner Jon Harty is "hopeful" for the weekend, said MacDougall.
Aldred and Josh Hepditch have filled in admirably in their absence. Incidentally, UNB's home games against Saint Mary's, which was postponed Oct. 31 due to H1NI concerns, has been rescheduled to Sunday, Dec. 6 at 5 p.m. at the Aitken Centre.
The St. Thomas Tommies, meanwhile, will be without four mainstays, including goaltender Charles Lavigne, when they travel to play Saint Mary's tonight and Acadia tomorrow night, both 7 p.m. starts on The Wolf 95.7 FM.
Tyler Dietrich and David Crossman both have "upper body" injuries, while Lavigne pulled a groin muscle. All left during the first period of last Sunday's 4-0 loss to the Huskies and didn't return.
They won't this weekend either.
"I don't think they're long-term injuries," said coach Mike Eagles, "but they're all questionable for this weekend."
Actually, there's no question. They've yet to practise. They won't play.
Lavigne "is not day to day," said Eagles. "Until he gets back on the ice, we won't really know."
Defenceman Bryan Main also remains out after suffering back and neck injuries in a fall into the boards in a game against the Dalhousie Tigers Oct. 31.
The Tommies will also be missing forwards Corey Banfield and Kenton Dulle tonight. They'll be serving one-game suspensions for their actions in last Sunday's game against the Huskies and will sit out tonight's rematch.
Banfield was suspended after receiving a checking to the head major penalty against the Huskies' Cody Thornton. Dulle, the Tommies' leading scorer, received his penalty for a run he took at Huskies' Justin Munden. He missed the Saint Mary's player and crashed heavily into the boards himself. There was no penalty called on the play by referee Jeff Hopkins. The Tommies, 3-5-1 and sixth in the AUS standings, have lost four of their last five games.
AUS women's hockey
The St. Thomas Tommies women's squad travel to Moncton tonight and Halifax on Saturday for games against the Universite de Moncton and Saint Mary's.
The Tommies are 2-3-0 on the season and can pull into a tie for fourth in the standings with a win over UdeM tonight. Tomorrow afternoon, the second-place Huskies, 5-2, provide the opposition.
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