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Pavel Gossip Line
Summarized from PBFC newsletter
- On November 9, 1995 while playing the Chicago Blackhawks inChicago, right-winger Pavel Bure suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
Assuming all goes well, here's how the next few months will shape up for Pavel Bure:
- For the first nine or ten days, Bure will gently get his knee moving again.
- If all is well at that point, he'll start exercising in a pool.
After that, the time frame depends on how Bure's knee reacts to the stress. Here's how the rest of the rehab will unfold:
- Begin on an exercise bike, then to a stairmaster.
- Move to working on the quadricep muscles and the range of motion.
- Straight-line jogging.
- Functional activities.
- Skating and then playing. It may take six to 12 months.
- On Monday, November 13, Pavel and his brother (who played the Vancouver Canucks the night before in what was to have been the first Valeri versus Pavel NHL hockey game) attended the Vancouver Grizzlies basketball game against the Dallas mavericks. During the intermission, they were introduced to the crowd to a huge ovation.
- The November 1995 issue of Beckett has a beautiful full-size cover photo of a smiling Pavel Pure withteammate Alexander Mogilny without their helmets. The photo is of them in their new Canuck uniforms, with more action photos inside.
- Pavel's knee operation on Thursday, November 16, took approximately two hours, during which time Pavel was anesthized.
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Rocket twists right knee
Tony Gallagher - - Vancouver Province
Nov 10, 1995
The play looked diabolical because Smith got his glove on Bure's face as the Russian cut past the Chicago goal. Smith appeared to knock him off-balance by holding Bure's head while his legs proceeded on ahead, which led to the awkward fall.
"I was trying to shield him from the puck", said Smith, himself playing his firstgame of the season after recovering from a disc problem in his back. "He must have fallen awkwardly, because I hardly hit him."
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96 Tears
Terry Bell/Jim Jamieson - - Vancouver Province
Nov 12, 1995
Are you sitting down? Brace yourselves. This is grim news indeed. Pavel Bure is out for the season.
The 24-year old Vancouver Canucksright winger will undergo corrective surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and isn't expected back in time for the play-offs.
Obviously, it's devestating news for the entire Canucks organization.
"I was shocked when I heard I'd be out six months", said Bure, who suffered the injury in Thursday's 5-2 loss in Chicago when he was taken out behind the Blackhawks net by defenceman Steve Smith, His skate got stuck between the ice and the boards and he injured the knee as he fell.
"I'll just have the operation and go from there", he said. "At first I thought it was just a small injury, two or three days. It's a very disappointing part of our business."
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Bure deserves better and so do fans
Tony Gallagher - - Vancouver Province
Nov 12, 1995
It's like Pavarotti has gone mute, Bryan Adams can't strum a guitar.
When the exciting great players go down the way Pavel Bure has this season. It's a gift from above has been temporarily denied. It's an unspeakable loss. It can't be replaced. The hope of every hockey fan of course is that he's able to make a full recovery without the loss of speed so vital to his game and to his enormous ability to excite.
Bure's biggest problem will be to wait long enough before starting rehab. It was that over-enthusiasm that murdered Pat LaFontaine when he suffered a similar injury. These guys are such hard workers, they must understand when to back off, the hardest lesson of their overachieving lives. LaFontaine made it back, but only after mountains of complications and a 17-month absence.
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Bure won't be pushed to return
Elliott Pap - - Vancouver Sun
Nov 13, 1995
The curtain has drawn on Pavel Bure's 1995-96 season, and there is no guarantee the Vancouver Canucks' superstar and matinee idol will even be ready for next September's training camp.
The Canucks are taking no risks with Bure and his blown out right knee and will insist he takes this year off no matter how well he feels after surgery.
"I'm not going to let Pavel come back early even if he wants to", said Canuck doctor Ross Davidson, who will conduct the reconstructive knee surgery sometime this week. "A lot of healing time is related. You have to allow the knee to re-establish it's strength. It is a time related phenomena. It's not just related to how strong he gets the muscles".
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Bure slated for gruelling rehab
Jim Jamieson - - Vancouver Province
Nov 17, 1995
Pavel Bure will be skating before the Canuck season is over. But don't get too excited yet. That's skating, not playing.
"We will have him skating before the end of the season, but there's a big difference between skating and playing", said Canucks team doctor Ross Davidson ina telephone interview fromhis office at the UBC Sports Medecine Clinic on Thursday. Davidson performed the reconstructive knee surgery on the Canucks' star on Wednesday at the University Hospital.
"At that point, skating is just part of the rehab process".
That process will goon for months, but right now Bure - - who was released from hospital on Thursday morning - - is just getting through the initial physical trauma of major surgery.
"He's pretty good, but he still has quite a lot of pain", said Pavel's father, Vladimir. "He didn't sleep much last night because of the pain".
Davidson said the surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in Bure's right knee went without a hitch. Bure's hamstring tendon was transplanted to repair the torn ligament.
"Everything went well", said Davidson. "But everything we said at the start still stands. He's gone for the season. That could change, but at this point what we're doing is what's best for Pavel's knee. He definitely won't play hockey in 1995. For 1996, the big question is when. We've just got to see how this rehab goes. It can be so variable. he's going to work like a dog, I have no doubt about that".
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On the road back
Jim Jamieson - - Vancouver Province
Nov 24, 1995
Pavel Bure's been off the crutches for two days and yesterday marked his first short foray out of the house. Maybe in a week or so he'll be able to drive the car again.
For Bure, everything in life is now cross-referenced with the operation. The Canucks superstar underwent reconstructive surgery on November 16 at Vancouver's University Hospital to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. Bure spoke about the surgery and his knew - and hopefully short - life without hockey eight days after the operation.
"The most difficult thing is not being arouund the guys and the game you love", said Bure in a telephone interview from his West Side home. "I really miss my team. I really miss everything about hockey. But I have no choice. I have to handle it. You have to be strong mentally. What happens, happens. You can't change it. You just have to work hard to get back on the ice as soon as possible".
Bure's knee was examined on Thursday for the first time since the operation by team physician Dr. Ross Davidson, who performed the surgery.
"He said it looks very good and I think he's very happy with the way it went", said Bure. "It's still a little bit painful, but it's not like the first couple of days. It's much better now. I can walk without crutches, but I still have the brace on. I can bend my leg 90 degrees".
Bure has to wear the brace 24 hours a day,likely for the next 10 days or so. He's been given the go-ahead to begin swimming and light exercises on the knee, starting in the next few days. The Russian Rocket will do the knee exercises at GM Place, which suits him fine, seeing as it'll put him back in a hockey enviroment.
"It's great for me", he said. "I can be around the guys all the time".
But Bure admits having to watch from the sidelines as the Canucks struggle is even more frustrating.
It's tough to see the team losing and not be able to help, but it's just reality", he said. "I've got to live with it. It's frustrating for the guys because I know they're working hard and doing the best they can".
Bure said he'll likely get out of town shortly for a brief vacation, just to get away from it all. "Right now, it's kind of tough mentally for me so I'd like to go away for a little bit", he said. "The rehab is the kind of stuff I can do anywhere in the world because my father is my personal coach and wherever I go he'll go with me".
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Canuck Diary
- Nov. 1 versus Edmonton (3-3 Tie)
(Shots: Van 43; Edm 31)
- Nov. 3 versus Toronot (4-4 Tie)
(Shots: Van 37; Tor 32. Pavel- two assists)
- Nov. 4 at Calgary (4-4 Tie)
(Shots: Van 40; Cal 40. Pavel- one goal)
- Nov. 7 at New York Islanders (5-2 Win)
(Shots: Van 29; NYI 23. Pavel- one goal and two assists)
- Nov. 9 at Chicago (2-5 Loss)
(Shots: Van 33; Chi 23)
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