Larsen shows no fear after big hit
Defenceman says check from Hall was clean, and he’s focusing on improving his play
The question was much gentler, but it was essentially this: “Philip Larsen, are you scared?” If he was, I’d get it. You’d get it, too. On Dec. 6, Taylor Hall drove a big percentage of the 200 pounds he carries clean through Larsen, knocking the Canucks’ defenceman out cold.
As far as hockey hits go, it was as violent as they come, evident in the aftermath that featured Larsen lying on the ice motionless, helpless.
It was one of those moments when the game that means so much to many of us, too much really, meant nothing. All that mattered then was Larsen’s health.
But it’s two months later, Larsen is recovered from his concussion and is back playing. It’s fair to wonder, however, if he’s worried it could happen again. Is there anxiety? Is he scared? How does he get over the nerves? Larsen took a moment to think. “Many people have seen it,” Larsen said, before one of the biggest smiles I’ve ever seen from him conquered his face. “But you have to remember, I don’t remember it. I didn’t see it.”
Yes, Larsen has jokes. And he’s not lying. One moment he was picking up a puck behind the net, the next he was waking up in an ambulance. His teammates told him he talked to them before he was taken off on a stretcher. He doesn’t remember that either. Maybe it’s for the best. “(Jokes aside), I’m not afraid of playing,” Larsen said. “It’s part of the game. I’ve had hits before. I still don’t believe it was a real heavy hit, it just got me right on my jaw and that explained the situation and how it looked.
“You can’t play when you’re afraid. I’m not afraid to get hit. Of course, you have to keep your head up.”
Larsen didn’t in New Jersey on a play Hall never thought could have that kind of outcome. The two have a past, having played together in Edmonton, and Hall reached out the next day. The two went backand-forth with text messages discussing the hit.
“He felt bad, it wasn’t his intention (to knock me out),” Larsen said. “He’s not a guy who tries to hurt people that way. I told him, ‘Don’t worry about it, it was a clean it. It’s part of the game. It just hit me very unlucky and looked very bad.’ ”
Larsen was hesitant about returning to the NHL when the Canucks first considered trading for him. He was happy in the KHL, playing a lot. He still thinks he made the right choice despite a season during which very little has gone his way.
Early in the year, Larsen struggled transitioning to a new team and returning to the smaller ice. Then a bacterial infection forced him to miss two weeks. Then Troy Stecher turned into something of a fan favourite and pretty much took his job. Then the Hall hit.
“To be honest with you, it’s taken time for me to get used to everything. I’m doing as good as I can,” Larsen said. “I feel, too, that I wasn’t where I wanted to be in the beginning. I’m working hard to try to get there.”
The good news for Larsen is coach Willie Desjardins trusts him, something he made clear when he played him over Alex Biega before the allstar break.
“I like him,” Desjardins said. “I like the way he plays.”
But Ben Hutton is expected to return in the next two weeks and Larsen is the guy most believe will come out of the lineup. It would be just his luck this year to be playing really well when that goes down.