Blaney returns to ice after a knee injury
PITTSBURGH — The night the Mars hockey team lost its perfect season, Nick Blaney figured he'd lost his season, period.
The junior winger left the ice with a knee injury during the Planets' 8-5 loss to Kittanning Feb. 3.
“It was a Grade 2 MCL tear,” Blaney said. “The doctor told me six to eight weeks, minimum. That would have gone past the state championship game.”
Blaney stayed off the ice for the past 5Z\x weeks. With his doctor's permission, he tried skating at practice Monday night and felt no pain.
So he played Tuesday night.
“I was nervous the whole time,” he admitted. “I was praying the knee wouldn't give out. The doctor let me play, but he said it was my fault if the knee went — and it could have cost me my senior season.
“I took it easy in the first period, trying to avoid contact. The knee felt OK and with the adrenaline from the game ... honestly, I wasn't feeling anything.”
He did feel elation in scoring his team's first goal and assisting on the second in the Planets' 4-1 win over Westmont Hilltop in the Penguins Cup Class A semifinals.
“That was unbelievable,” Blaney said. “Right place at the right time.”
Mars coach Steve Meyers never thought Blaney would return to the lineup.
“I figured he was done,” Meyers said. “He hadn't been able to get on the ice at all. He hadn't skated. Even if he could physically play, I didn't think he'd have any wind.”
Blaney now has 18 goals and 20 assists on the season — and showed plenty of wind.
Forward Austin Heakins also was playing with an injured pelvis while forward Joe Bender and defenseman Ryan Magdinec are playing through shoulder injuries.
“Most of our guys play for two teams and have played over 100 hockey games by now,” he said.
A few weeks ago, Blaney couldn't even walk.
“When they first had me doing exercises and rehabbing the knee, I had no balance, no base at all,” Blaney said. “I went through the pain while looking at the playoff dates.
“I love playing this game.”
