Leafs Blake faced with the long road
The curtain has barely lifted on the new NHL season and already the Toronto Maple Leafs are watching the revolving doors start spinning on their sickbay.
But this time around their marquee player isn't dealing with a broken orbital bone, back spasms or sports hernia. This time it's something much worse. Early last week newly signed forward, Jason Blake, revealed that he had been diagnosed with leukemia. To be specific, the speedy winger has chronic myelogenous leukemia, or CML, which is a long-term disease that can normally be managed through medication, but will eventually require a bone-marrow transplant.
Team doctors, as well as I'm sure Blake himself, are hoping that the medication will help and allow him to continue his season with the Leafs, and more importantly continue to lead a normal life. With an 85 to 90 per cent chance of survival, they're counting their lucky stars that Blake has developed one of the treatable forms of cancer.
But the Minnesota native isn't the first NHL'er to be diagnosed with one form of cancer or another, nor will he be the last unfortunately. The hockey world was stunned in the nineties when, arguably one of the leagues all-time greats, Mario Lemieux was diagnosed with cancer. In 1997 Lemieux retired from the sport after learning he had Hodgkins lymphoma, only to battle back to return to the ice in 2000, before buying into the Pittsburgh Penguins team as owner.
More recently, current Montreal Canadiens captain, Saku Koivu, missed the majority of the 2001-2002 season to undergo treatment for stomach cancer. One of the seasons most memorable moments was the standing ovation the Finn received when he returned to the ice against the Senators shortly before the playoffs that year, and as the diminutive captain took his pre-game skate the crowd at the Bell Centre in Montreal gave him the second longest standing ovation in team history, one that lasted just over eight minutes in length.
And if all three of those players have only one thing in common it's that they're all known for being classy on and off the ice. It's there that you have to wonder, as goes the old refrain, why bad things happen to good people. Not that I'm saying that anyone, even players that I dislike, deserve to have to go through what Blake is now facing. My personal hatred of Daniel Alfredsson and Brendan Shanahan may amount to some name-calling and much fuming when they score, but there are some things no one wants to see someone else have to deal with.
And it's in distaste that I look at the people who after hearing of the diagnosis first asked what his illness would do for the Leafs and that $20-million contract he signed. I understand that yes, at some point we'll have to broach that subject, but isn't Blake's welfare more important than worrying about finding a replacement if the medication doesn't work, and worrying about the salary cap?
With any luck we won't have to worry about losing Blake to treatment, and will have to forego a standing ovation when he returns. Because I know I'm hoping he never has to leave the team because of CML, and I'd gladly give up that $20-million and the cap room to ensure that he's alright, because first and foremost, before being a hockey player, or a Maple Leaf, Jason Blake is just like most of us - just another good person.
But this time around their marquee player isn't dealing with a broken orbital bone, back spasms or sports hernia. This time it's something much worse. Early last week newly signed forward, Jason Blake, revealed that he had been diagnosed with leukemia. To be specific, the speedy winger has chronic myelogenous leukemia, or CML, which is a long-term disease that can normally be managed through medication, but will eventually require a bone-marrow transplant.
Team doctors, as well as I'm sure Blake himself, are hoping that the medication will help and allow him to continue his season with the Leafs, and more importantly continue to lead a normal life. With an 85 to 90 per cent chance of survival, they're counting their lucky stars that Blake has developed one of the treatable forms of cancer.
But the Minnesota native isn't the first NHL'er to be diagnosed with one form of cancer or another, nor will he be the last unfortunately. The hockey world was stunned in the nineties when, arguably one of the leagues all-time greats, Mario Lemieux was diagnosed with cancer. In 1997 Lemieux retired from the sport after learning he had Hodgkins lymphoma, only to battle back to return to the ice in 2000, before buying into the Pittsburgh Penguins team as owner.
More recently, current Montreal Canadiens captain, Saku Koivu, missed the majority of the 2001-2002 season to undergo treatment for stomach cancer. One of the seasons most memorable moments was the standing ovation the Finn received when he returned to the ice against the Senators shortly before the playoffs that year, and as the diminutive captain took his pre-game skate the crowd at the Bell Centre in Montreal gave him the second longest standing ovation in team history, one that lasted just over eight minutes in length.
And if all three of those players have only one thing in common it's that they're all known for being classy on and off the ice. It's there that you have to wonder, as goes the old refrain, why bad things happen to good people. Not that I'm saying that anyone, even players that I dislike, deserve to have to go through what Blake is now facing. My personal hatred of Daniel Alfredsson and Brendan Shanahan may amount to some name-calling and much fuming when they score, but there are some things no one wants to see someone else have to deal with.
And it's in distaste that I look at the people who after hearing of the diagnosis first asked what his illness would do for the Leafs and that $20-million contract he signed. I understand that yes, at some point we'll have to broach that subject, but isn't Blake's welfare more important than worrying about finding a replacement if the medication doesn't work, and worrying about the salary cap?
With any luck we won't have to worry about losing Blake to treatment, and will have to forego a standing ovation when he returns. Because I know I'm hoping he never has to leave the team because of CML, and I'd gladly give up that $20-million and the cap room to ensure that he's alright, because first and foremost, before being a hockey player, or a Maple Leaf, Jason Blake is just like most of us - just another good person.
