Denver Magazine / Denver Magazine January 2010 / Blood on the Ice

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Blood on the Ice

A team of sports medicine professionals keeps DU’s hockey men going strong.

The quarters adjacent to the locker room of the University of Denver’s men’s hockey team serves as a triage, rehab center, and unofficial water cooler all in one. Pioneer players, both the walking wounded and supremely fit, meet here to get bandaged up, nurse nagging injuries, and endure some good-natured ribbing from whoever happens to pass through. Others busy themselves with a nearby Ping-Pong table.

They also bond with Aaron Leu, the team’s associate director of sports medicine and the man who helps them stay healthy enough to finish the season — and possibly segue to a professional hockey career. The Pioneers program continues to crank out NHL-certified players such as the Philadelphia Flyers’ Matt Carle and, much closer to home, Colorado Avalanche standout Paul Stastny.

The training room may seem chaotic at first, what with players streaming in and out, many checking in with Leu to assuage their newest aches and pains. Throwing yourself between a hard puck and your team’s goaltender leaves an assortment of bruises. Leu tackles each problem with a Zen-like efficiency, mentally checking off each player’s injury status and needs.

Leu, who also helps out with the university’s men and women’s golf squads, doesn‘t work alone. He has a team of professionals to help the team stay fit enough to chase another championship. Other DU trainers and a pair of local orthopedic doctors oversee the university’s athletic squads. Leu is always a text message away from getting expert medical advice to help a teammate in need.

The Edge of the Blade

Few players were in more need this season than University of Denver goaltender Marc Cheverie. The junior goalie suffered a deep gash October 30 when an opposing player lost his balance and clumsily fell into him. One of the player’s skate blades sank into Cheverie’s left calf during the confusion.

Blood pooled in Cheverie’s goalie pad as Leu and his staff rushed to his side, a stretcher ready to whisk him off the ice. But about two weeks after the frightening injury, which required 40 stitches both inside and out, the scar on his leg looks remarkably improved.

But Cheverie wasn’t the only wounded Pioneer this season. Junior forward Dustin Jackson broke his right leg in an early season scrimmage, and about 10 players suffered flu symptoms around the same time. “We got lucky,” Leu says. “It happened during September when there weren’t any big games.”

Other common hockey-related injuries include MCL sprains, shoulder strains, and concussions. Each game usually involves one injury of some consequence, Leu says.

Injuries aren’t a sore subject; some players taunt one another in fun when they wear special jerseys at practice to show they’re only up for limited physical contact. It’s a healthy camaraderie, Leu says, a gentle pressure for players to push each other to greater glory on the ice.

It’s no wonder an old-school hockey photograph adorns the training room, featuring Bob Trembecky, who played on the university’s ’68 and ’69 national title teams, with a severe gash in his head. It’s the kind of image that would make most people wince or simply turn away in disgust. Here, it’s just part of the scenery, a fact of life for those who choose to play an often-violent sport.

Training Day

The DU training room isn’t high tech, but it does feature a whirlpool, ice machine, and ultrasound equipment along with the standard array of finger splints, bandages, and wraps.

Leu sends head coach George Gwozdecky a daily injury report, so he knows how to plan for the next clash between the university’s squad and its rivals. “Making sure everyone’s on the same page can be difficult,” he says.

After the puck drops, Leu and his team must make snap decisions whenever a player comes limping off the ice. Some dramatic cases, such as Cheverie’s injury, don’t require any deliberation. But a successful athletic program like DU’s hockey team needs its best players available, something which must be measured when diagnosing an injury.



Plus, 13 members of the 2009 – 2010 squad have already been drafted by pro teams. There’s clearly plenty riding on the right diagnosis. “They also have a career down the road,” says Leu, rubbing an ultrasound device over Cheverie’s scar to help the soft tissue heal. “We don’t want to jeopardize that.”

“The majority of our kids can go professional,” says Pat Hoxsey, assistant athletic trainer. “We’re trying to protect them.”

That protection includes pre-screenings for concussion treatments. While this season hasn’t seen any players come down with concussion-like symptoms, the team makes sure to chart healthy brainwave patterns in case someone does suffer a head-rattling injury.

Hoxsey says concussions can be difficult to diagnose and treat, and having healthy brainwave patterns to measure against following a head trauma can be an effective tool for helping a player return to the ice. He adds every Pioneers home hockey game features more than a few pairs of eyes on the players throughout each game.

“There’s always two trainers, with one on the bench [during a game]. We have radios, and we’ll watch them skate back to the bench,” Hoxsey says. They watch the players coming on and off the ice to check for injuries, to see if they’re favoring a part of their body, essentially to make sure they’re moving at full speed and with a normal range of motion.

Spot Check

Leu tries to visually assess a wounded player’s condition following an injury, check his range of motion and attempt some basic strength moves to see how much pressure he can apply with the affected part of the body. The DU hockey staff doesn’t have access to the kind of medical machinery found at the professional level, but Leu’s instincts and ability to assess an injury’s severity are typically more than enough.

Sophomore defenseman Patrick Wiercioch, wearing an ice pack over his grade 2 MCL sprain, says the DU trainer “is more accurate than an MRI.”

Leu helped senior forward Tyler Ruegsegger recover from a pair of serious injuries during his career at DU, including a bad groin strain and a strained PCL. “Before practice, during practice, and after practice — Aaron would always be there early to help me out,” Ruegsegger says. “He’d come in on Sunday and days off, too.”

It helps that Leu and his colleagues create an encouraging atmosphere behind the scenes. “It’s easy in sports to get down on yourself during an injury. He stays very positive and keeps the mood light,” Ruegsegger says. “He’s always monitoring what you’re doing to get you back [on the ice] as fast as possible.” Returning from a serious injury is one of the biggest hurdles an athlete must overcome. Hit the ice too soon, and a player could aggravate the injury and be gone for the entire year, or longer. “I completely trust Aaron,” he says. “I tell him how my body feels and let him make the decision. If he thinks I can play, then I’ll take his word on it. I rely on him for wisdom.”

The medical staff understands a player such as Ruegsegger will grind out games on good nights and bad, playing through the pain if necessary. “They know the player I am. They don’t want you to do anything that will damage your career,” he says.

Cheverie adds that players can’t dwell on an injury once they return to action, which makes having trust in the medical opinions given to them even more important. “If you do, you’ll play scared,” he says.

Hitting, Tripping

Hockey provides the DU trainers with some unique challenges, both injuries that won’t go away and the possibility that any game on the schedule can require major decisions during any given period.

Pete McCall, an exercise physiologist with the American Council on Exercise, says two of the more common hockey-related injuries involve sports hernias and groin strains. “They get strained from the players having to push and drive off the ice,” he says. Knee injuries turn up less frequently in hockey players, he adds, and while skate-related cuts are rare, they do happen on occasion. Cases of blunt-force trauma, often thanks to a misdirected stick, are much more likely to take a player down.

McCall says injuries across the university and professional level have plenty in common. The biggest difference could be the fatigue factor with NHL players enduring an 80-plus-game season, which can lead to injuries based on the body slowly breaking down.

If the Pioneers win the national championship in 2010, Leu and his team will have played a critical role in the victory. But Leu remains in awe of the players he patches up on a daily basis. “Hockey players in general are some of the toughest players I’ve worked with,” he says. “They can handle pain better and really sacrifice to play. They work harder off the ice than other athletes I’ve been around.”