BLUE BOOST
Rangers help inspire paralyzed Minnesota teen
ON DEC. 30, Minnesota teenager Jack Jablonski, 16, was hit into the boards from behind during a juniorvarsity hockey game for Benilde-st. Margaret’s School against Wayzata High. The initial diagnosis was paralysis from the neck down.
A few days later, his father, Mike, returned home from the hospital to find a box on the Jablonski family’s front steps. Inside was a Rangers Winter Classic jersey courtesy of rookie defenseman Stu Bickel, who grew up in Chanhassen, Minn., about half-hour southwest of Jack’s high school.
“Stu Bickel was one of the first guys to send Jack a jersey,” said Mike Jablonski, who graduated with an M.B.A. from St. John’s University, married Leslie, of Cedar Grove, N.J., and Seton Hall University, lived in Hoboken for seven years and still roots for the Rangers. “The hockey community has been unbelievable.”
During the All-star break in late January, Rangers Derek Stepan (Hastings, Minn.) and Ryan McDonagh (St. Paul) returned to their home state and visited Jack in the hospital. They presented him with a blue Rangers game jersey complete with “JABLONSKI” and his number 13 on the back.
“Gotta give him the blue one, right?” Mcdonagh said.
All three Rangers said it was the least they could do. Last week, as the Blueshirts traveled to Minnesota to face the Wild in St. Paul, Stepan explained how close to home Jablonski’s injury had hit.
“He’s only a couple years younger than I am,” the 21-year-old center said.
Rule changes already are occurring to protect these athletes at the youth hockey level, though it’s impossible to remove the inherent risk of the sport.
Prior to Jablonski’s injury, USA Hockey raised its initial checking age from Pee Wees (ages 11 to 12) to Bantams (ages 13 to 14) and banned all hits to the “head, face or neck,” responding to a University of Calgary study that revealing new information about concussions and injury in youth hockey when players are allowed to body check.
“They’re taking a step to starting to protect at an older age,” Stepan said. “I don’t know if that’s going to be the answer, but I think USA Hockey is taking the right step to try and control it.”
Not even a month after Jack’s injury, Minnesota Hockey announced a trial period of assessing more severe, five-minute major penalties for boarding and checking from behind.
“They’ve implemented some real serious changes,” Mike Jablonski said. “They might actually bring back charging. I didn’t see a charging penalty in Minnesota Hockey for 30 years. But for the referees, a lot of times if they call the game too close, coaches complain, ‘Let the players play.’ And if they let things go, coaches complain their players are in harm’s way. So their hands have been tied, and hopefully now they can call the games how it should be.”
BETTER DAYS
Jack wore a 15-pound halo around his neck and head due his spinal cord injury, but he underwent surgery eight days later, and by the time Stepan and Mcdonagh walked into his hospital room, he had started to regain some functions.
Fast-forward to last Thursday, when Jack got on the phone from the Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute in Minneapolis. He is in a wheelchair, but he has the halo off and has regained functions in parts of both his arms, a product of undergoing therapy six days a week during the last two months.
“The initial (diagnosis) was neck down,” Jack told the Daily News, “but then I started to move a little, and they said I wasn’t supposed to move my left side and right arm from the elbow down. But now I can move my right arm fully — it’s not strong, obviously, but I can move it. I have no movement in my right fingers but I do in my wrist. And I can move my left arm, can still pick it up and move around.”
Jack is a sophomore, so just before his interview he was reading Shakespeare with an English tutor — “I’m in the midst of reading ‘Macbeth,’ but it’s not too interesting,” he laughed. He was more excited to talk about his favorite NHL team.
“My team is the Rangers right now,” Jack said, though he’s clearly a fan of all 30 clubs, considering the outpouring of phone calls and support from NHL stars everywhere, such as the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Steven Stamkos. “They’re holding off the Penguins, they’re winning games. I’m a big Rangers fan.”
There was also a memorable visit from the Wild’s Dany Heatley, Devin Setoguchi and Cal Clutterbuck. Jack asked the Wild players if they could promise to score a goal for him. Heatley, not wanting to promise and fail to deliver, joked, “I’ve been kinda cold lately.” Setoguchi allowed, “I could probably put one on net.” Then Clutterbuck promised a goal, and scored the next night.
Jack’s team above all others, of course, is Benilde-st. Margaret’s, which dedicated a season to Jablonski and improbably won the Minnesota Class 2A state championship on March 10, with Jack watching at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul from a second-level suite.
“That was a great weekend,” Jack said. “It was very emotional and upand-down, but it means a lot. It’s bittersweet. I’m sad to see them go, see the season end.
“My goal is obviously to walk, but first finger movements in both hands and wrist. I don’t know how much can come back.”
Whatever Jack doesn’t get back, the hockey community appears prepared to give.
Donations to the Jablonski family can be sent to the Jack Jablonski Fund, P.O. Box 16387, St. Louis Park, MN 55416-2618 or made online at jabby13.com.