Losing teeth on the ice ‘sucks,’ Hamonic says

Within minutes of James Neal taking a high-stick to the face and losing a mouthful of teeth, clips of the incident had gone viral.

It was a quintessential hockey scene, with Neal’s teammates and the referees in Vancouver scouring the ice to find any remnants of the missing teeth.

The fact that the Calgary Flames forward returned to the ice and

finished the game only made the clip seem like more of a classic hockey moment, and media outlets across North America delighted in writing stories that highlighted his toughness.

Neal’s teammates in the Flames locker-room are appreciative of his toughness, but they don’t seem to find the story all that cute.

“Naw, it sucks,” said Flames defenceman Travis Hamonic, who has lost a few teeth himself in his career. “Honestly, some of the worst

pain you can have, physically, is the dental and the mouth. There’s a lot going on in a little area there. You never want to see that happen.

“I’ve been there and it’s not fun. It’s pain and a lot of time in the dentist chair and then it takes a lot of time for the new teeth to settle in.

“Unfortunately, it’s part of the job, but he’s been through it before.”

Neal skipped out on the Flames’ practice on Monday morning in Tampa, but is expected to be in the lineup against the Lightning when the two teams face off on Tuesday night.

The fact that he won’t miss time shouldn’t be misinterpreted as his injury not being serious.

Everyone in the Flames locker-room knows just how painful losing teeth can be.

“That’s part of hockey, for sure, but you feel bad,” said Flames centre Derek Ryan. “He probably had a lot of work to be done today.”