Colborne suffers wrist injury
In the morning, Joe Colborne sounded optimistic about turning a corner on recovery from off- season wrist surgery.
“We kinda knew coming in it wasn’t going to be 100 per cent right from the start,’’ he’d said following the morning skate at the MTS Centre. “It’s a process getting back to where I want to be, to feeling healthy and comfortable.
“We’re reaching points where it’s not affecting me too, too much anymore. But we understood it wasn’t going to be a case that Day 1 of camp it was going to all- of- asudden magically be ‘ Oh, good to go again.’
“The main thing is that more and more I’m feeling like I can actually shoot the puck. That wasn’t there at the start of camp.
“Now that I’m feeling healthy again I feel I can contribute more as a scoring threat. When I do get the chance to walk into a shot, I’m not cringing and looking the other way for a pass. Now I trust in the wrist.’’
The wrist in question was the left one.
Eight hours later, cruelly, Colborne was making a beeline for the Calgary Flames dressing room, holding his right hand/ wrist after being hit by a shot from Andrew Ladd six minutes into the second period.
“Upper- body injury and will not be back,’’ was the official word. It does not look good. “Definitely,’’ said goaltender Joni Ortio, “a tough break for Colby. To come back and have something like that happen, to block a shot and then get hit in a spot where there’s no protection ... it sucks. Just bad luck. “You don’t wish that on anyone.’’ All- around, then, a night to be shredded for the Calgary Flames, toppled 3- 1 by the Winnipeg Jets in their second- last tune- up tilt. If anything, though, it probably simplified the selection process for the management and coaching staff.
None of the ‘ bubble’ players, looking to make a late, lasting impression stood out, at least not in a positive way. Of the rest, Mason Raymond enjoyed his finest period, the first, of pre- season. Micheal Ferland, too, made an impact over the opening 20.
“They had a good lineup and we basically put the guys we wanted to evaluate tonight in all kinds of situations,’’ summarized Flames’ coach Bob Hartley.
“Tough situations. Tomorrow morning we’re gonna back and as an organization we’re going to sit down and make some decisions.’’