Backes gets back to practice
Bout with illness puts winger behind
David Backes was raring to go the week of the season opener.
With the league a more welcoming place for faster and smaller players, the rugged forward worked on his skating in the offseason and streamlined his bulky physique for today’s NHL.
But just a couple of days before the Bruins opener against Nashville, he was felled by diverticulitis, a digestive ailment that had him in the hospital for three days, doubled over in pain.
Just when he’ll be able to make his season debut is not yet certain, but he participated in his first full practice yesterday since getting sick. Tomorrow night’s game against the Vancouver Canucks has not yet been ruled out.
“I think we took a nice step today, being able to skate with the guys,” Backes said. “I was like a kid in a candy store before practice. You get the carrot of Game 1 taken away, and you finally get back with the guys after they’ve been away for a week. Knowing what the results have been, you want to inject a little energy out there, know- ing we’ve got 77 games left to establish ourselves and finding our game and play the right way.
“For me personally, I felt good out there. It was nice to be back on the ice. I was smiling most of the day knowing I’ll be playing ice hockey in the future.”
The ailment came on in a hurry.
“I have a family history of it, but the studies show that may or may not be a factor, diet may or may not be a factor,” Backes said. “Typically, they said if you have a high (body mass index) and poor eating habits then this is something you’ve got to worry about. I don’t believe I have either of those. But this is something that’s unfortunate timing and unfortunate circumstances. Hopefully I’ll take care of this, put it behind me and I won’t have to think about it again.”
Backes said the first few days the pain was severe. He wasn’t able to eat for a couple of days and lost about 10 pounds.
“Those first couple of days with diverticulitis, it’s tough to stand up straight and do anything,” Backes said. “I was on a no-exercise regimen for six, seven days. So to pick up from not sweating for six, seven days, to get back on the ice to feeling the way I feel today, it’s progress certainly.
“The return? We’ll see. And long-term prognosis we’ll discuss with the really smart guys.”
Backes did some off-ice training for a couple of days, and yesterday was his fourth day on ice, first with the team. He’s also been trying to educate himself on the condition.
“It’s not a broken bone where they say this will heal in six weeks and you’ll be back to good,” he said. “The cause is idiopathic. They’re not certain what’s causing it. They don’t know if it’ll come back in short order or long term. They’ve got some stats, but the stats are not necessarily for a 33-year-old athlete.
“I talked with Matt Light, the former Patriot who had some intestinal conditions that he was dealing when he played and after he played, still dealing with them, and I got his insights on being a professional athlete and dealing with these sorts of issues.”
Backes said it was difficult sitting in a bed at MGH during the opener with the Garden in sight.
“That’s a tough emotional swing,” he said. “Watching at home’s never easy when you feel like you’ve worked all summer and feel like you’ve changed yourself a little bit so that you have a lot of success. To have that false start to begin with, it’s tough to deal with mentally. But coming back and having extra energy today, the past is the past and we’ve got to look at what the next step is so that I’m the best player I can be to help us win games.”