Rai of hope that nightmare’s over
Prospect playing again after suffering bulging disc, stress fracture in car accident
Prab Rai is back playing hockey again — and the smooth-skating forward is hoping the nightmare is over.
A couple of times in the last 20 months, the Canucks prospect thought he was past the June 2010 car accident that occurred when he was rear-ended while stuck in traffic near the Port Mann Bridge in Surrey. Both times he was wrong.
Rai, 22, a Canucks fifth-round pick in 2008, had fallen off the hockey radar screen, but now he’s been able to finally begin a pro hockey career that’s been delayed 18 months by a serious back injury.
“It’s really nice just to get back on the ice,” said Rai, who will play his ninth game for the ECHL Kalamazoo Wings today.
“It’s been a really long time to wait for my pro debut, so it was nice to step on the ice.
“It was very frustrating. It’s just been nice to be around the hockey world again and doing what you’re used to doing.”
Rai’s problems all started with the car accident, which happened shortly after he’d signed his first pro contract.
The rear-ender left him with severe back pain. X-rays showed a bulging disc and, at the advice of his own doctor and the Canucks’ medical people, he took two months off to let it settle down while taking treatment.
By the time rookie camp opened the second week of September 2010, Rai says he was feeling well enough to go but was still in some pain.
“I was getting temporary relief to be able to play,” he said.
“I played up there and I played well, but I was still in pain but was getting by.
“My back just kept getting worse and worse and eventually locked up on me. It was pretty hard to deal with.”
Rai, who scored 41 goals in his final year of junior in Seattle, showed off his high-end speed and good skill-set in the prospects tourney in Penticton, but the sore back became so debilitating that it became clear there was more going on than the disc.
An MRI was done that showed a stress fracture as well.
Rai admits that going to his first pro camp less than 100-per-cent healthy maybe wasn’t a great idea, but the extent of the injury wasn’t known at that point.
“That’s the way it happened, things can always be missed,” he said.
“It’s no one’s fault. Going back a year, if I knew there was a stress
“I was getting temporary relief to be able to play. ... My back just kept getting worse and worse and eventually locked up on me. It was pretty hard to deal with.” — Prab Rai
fracture, obviously the Canucks wouldn’t have allowed me to play and I wouldn’t have been playing.”
Rai made it to Penticton last September to play in the Canucks’ prospects tournament, but had a setback afterwards.
It was another three months before he joined the Canucks’ ECHL affiliate in January. He played his first game Jan. 20 and has one assist in eight games.
Canucks director of player development Dave Gagner said the goal for Rai is to get a string of games under his belt and have a good stretch of off-season training to prepare for next season.
“He’s had so much time off that he just needs to get back playing and develop from there,” said Gagner.
“He’s got a lot of natural ability, so if he can get into a consistent training regimen he’s going to be able to show the talent he has. He’s a long ways away, but there’s always hope for guys with ability and he has that.”
Rai knows he’ll always have to work through his back issues and goes through a special exercise regimen mornings and before and after games. So far, it’s feeling good. “You have to maintain it, but as long as you do that there’s no reason why you can’t get back to the player you were before, and that’s the goal,” he said.