Kessel moving forward from injury
PLYMOUTH, MICH. — For obvious reasons, Amanda Kessel’s goal was a big one.
With less than two minutes remaining in the first period, Team USA and Russia had been locked in a scoreless battle at the women’s world hockey championship when Kessel fed Monique Lamoureux with a two-on-one pass and then “crashed the net” and deposited the rebound. The goal, which stood up as the game-winner, ended up opening the floodgates in a 7-0 win.
“It was good for our team to get one,” said Kessel. “We had kind of been pressing.”
There were, of course, not-so obvious reasons that made the goal even bigger.
Two years ago, the thought of Kessel crashing the net would have been outlandish. She wasn’t skating, much less playing hockey. Even moving off the couch was a challenge.
A concussion suffered prior to the 2014 Olympics in Sochi had limited the star forward to her dormitory room at the University of Minnesota, where she sat in the dark in complete silence and tried to wish away the headaches and nausea that washed over her in waves. Then only 23 years old, her career seemed over just as it was getting started.
“It’s tough. I don’t think people can really relate or understand what you’re going through,” said Kessel. “People who’ve had longterm concussions can. But for other people in life, it’s really difficult for them to understand why you’re never happy or why you feel so bad every day.”
Even Kessel wondered what was happening below the surface. The injury had occurred when she was preparing for the Olympics and slid headfirst into the boards after being tripped in a national team scrimmage. She sat out about a month or so, but deemed herself healthy for Sochi, where she scored three goals and tied for the team lead with six points, as the U.S. won a silver medal.
It wasn’t until weeks later that she started to experience the telltale signs of a head injury. It lasted nearly two years.
“I tried to tell myself that I would be back, but I definitely doubted it at points,” said Kessel. “When it got closer to a year and a half, two years, I wasn’t sure. I kept thinking, ‘I want to play in the next Olympics, but am I going to be there?’ As the days went on, it seemed less and less likely.”
Kessel eventually returned to the Gophers last year for her senior season and ended up scoring the decisive goal in the championship game. Having played this season in the National Women’s Hockey League, where she is the highestpaid player, Kessel appears to have returned to form. Still, it wasn’t until she scored on Saturday — her first international goal in almost four years — that the 25-year-old got the “monkey off my back.”
“I feel better and better every game and obviously it’s nice to score,” said Kessel, who also picked up an assist in Saturday’s game. “You’re kind of itching for that first one to give you more confidence. But with every game, I’m feeling better and better.”
Having Kessel back is a huge boost for the defending world champions, who are a perfect 2-0 to start the tournament after wins against Canada and Russia.
“She’s one of the most skilled forwards I’ve ever played with, so it’s great to have her back,” said Team USA forward Brianna Decker. “She has a vision that not a lot of people do.”
Indeed, some have called Kessel, whose older brother won a Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the most talented hockey player in the family. A flawless skater (“It almost looks like she’s floating along the ice,” Gophers head coach Brad Frost told Postmedia News in 2012) Kessel led the Madison Capitols Bantam boys’ team to the state and regional championships and a year later scored 102 points in 56 games with the women’s team at Shattuck St. Mary’s prep school in Minnesota.
Along with Decker and Hilary Knight, Kessel is expected to be a key cog in the U.S. team searching for its first gold medal since 1998 in Nagano. But after everything she’s gone through in the last few years, Kessel is just happy to be back and healthy and playing the game she’s grown to love even more.
“It’s tough,” she said. “It makes you really appreciate the game and what you missed. I missed even the little things like being at camp that you take for granted. But me being back, I really cherish every moment now.
“For sure, I think I get better and better as a player. I don’t think about (the concussion) any more. But I sometimes think it’s surreal that I’m back, because it was such a long time.”