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Send Kevin your best wishes, too.
- Kevin Smyth is currently playing
for the Tacoma Sabercats of the West Coast Hockey League, on loan from
Las Vegas of the IHL. You can visit their site at www.sabercats.com.
I swiped the pic below from their site!
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Former
Whaler injured; continues to play despite hampered vision
- Former Whaler Kevin Smyth, now playing with the IHL's Orlando Solar
Bears, was struck in the eye with a puck during a December 28, 1996 game
with the Indianapolis Ice.
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- Smyth was in front of the Indianapolis net when a low point shot deflected
off a stick and the puck smashed directly into his right eye socket.
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- "I had no time to react," said Smyth in an AP story. "I
could not see anything but I thought maybe (a lack of vision) was blood.
There was a cut on my cheekbone and I thought the puck hit there and blood
went into my eye.
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- "As it turned out, the puck went right through
my eyelid, through my eyeball. I knew it was something serious but never
expected something like this. I called my brother and told him to get one
(visor) on. This message is not just for kids." Smyth's brother, Ryan,
is having a big season with the NHL's Edmonton Oilers.
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- Smyth, of Banff, Alberta, had three hours of surgery in Orlando and
traveled to New York to see a specialist at Columbia University. After
more than five hours of surgery, doctors at Columbia were able to reattach
40 percent of the retina in Smyth's eye.
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- After an examination January 9, Smyth still could not see from his
right eye. Doctors were disappointed but cautiously optimistic. They now
say it could take months before he sees anything. Smyth underwent another
operation January 10 to repair the orbital bone around the eye.
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- Smyth was a fourth-round pick of the Hartford Whalers in 1992 and played
58 NHL games, scoring six goals and eight assists over three seasons. He
had 12 goals and 15 assists this season with Orlando.
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- Smyth announces plan to return to hockey
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- Norma Desmond may not have liked the term -- "I hate that word!
It's a return," she said -- but Kevin Smyth is planning a comeback.
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- Smyth returned to Orlando January 15, and met with teammates and the
media.
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- ''They (doctors) say in another month or so, I start skating,'' Smyth
said in an Orlando Sentinel story. ''That's a good sign. There is nothing
legally that says you can't play with one eye. I'll definitely want to
try it if that is the case. I'm hoping I'll still be able to get some sight
back and help this team win.''
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- Smyth said his eye is anatomically correct. The muscles work, and the
retina is 50 percent intact. Smyth said doctors told him his vision should
return, provided the optic nerve begins to work again and the blood clears
from the area. That clearing process already has begun.
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- "They say it's just a matter of time,'' Smyth said. ''Hopefully,
the nerve will come around. How long that takes, or whether it happens,
I don't know. The next month is pretty much going to be resting, then skating
and working out. After that, we'll see what happens. I don't know what
the eye's going to do. Everything is intact, and there should be no problems.''
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- Not playing is not an option to Smyth now, he said.
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- Smyth takes first steps to comeback
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- Kevin Smyth returned to the ice with a brief skate January 23, but
he remains blind in his right eye. Doctors are now "not optimistic"
that his vision will return.
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- Yet Smyth remains determined to return to the Solar Bears and hopes
to resume practice sessions in February -- protective headgear, abbreviated
vision and all.
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- "I could sit there and cry and complain about it," Smyth
said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel. "You look around and
you read the paper or see the news and there are so many people worse off
than I am. This is so minor."
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- Smyth back with Solar Bears
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- Kevin Smyth took his first full practice with the Solar Bears March
4 in Orlando. Doctors in New York determined that it is unlikely Smyth
will regain sight in his right eye, but cleared him to play provided he
wears a helmet outfitted with a half visor-half cage.
Smyth had skated with the team for about a month and had gone through
drills with the coaching staff. He will play right wing (as he did with
the Whalers), keeping his blind eye to the outside of the ice, but hopes
eventually to play both wings. The coaching staff thinks he may be ready
to play after a few weeks of practice (and -- how shall I put this? -- conditioning).
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- Smyth returns to play March 19
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- Kevin Smyth will make his return to hockey tonight (March 19) at Orlando
Arena when the Orlando Solar Bears play the Cincinnati Cyclones. Smyth
missed 33 games since injuring his eye December 28, but has spent the last
two weeks practicing with his teammates.
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- "I can't remember when I saw the ice with two eyes," Smyth
said in an Orlando Sentinel story. "I obviously have a blind spot.
It's amazing, with the one eye, I feel like I'm seeing out of two eyes.
I can see everything, really. I just have to wait and see how I do."
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- The Solar Bears are second in the Northeast Division (44-20-4); before
his injury, Smyth was the team's fourth-leading scorer with 27 points (12
goals, 15 points) in 28 games.
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- Smyth gets assist in first comeback
game
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- Kevin Smyth received a lengthy standing ovation and nabbed a second-period
assist in his comeback game with the Solar Bears last night, March 19.
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- Unfortunately, the Solar Bears got off to a bad start when defenseman
Darren Wetherill kicked the puck into his own net early in the first period.
The Bears tied a team record with 22 shots in the second, including Smyth's
first point since he was injured December 28, but went on to lose, 6-5,
to Cincinnati.
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- "I felt good, but we didn't win,'' Smyth told the Orlando Sentinel.
''That's the number one thing. It was a good game for me to be back in
-- fast, pretty good hockey."
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- The Solar Bears play five games in the next seven days, and Smyth says
that the heavy schedule will help him get back in shape.
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