| HAMPTON,
Va, - Playing squash, Mike Pelyk had just hit what he supposes was the world's greatest
shot. "I backhanded it over against the side wall and it came off onto the front wall
low there and right in the corner," he says. "Then it just dropped." So did
Pelyk. "The guy I was playing with turned around to say 'great shot' and there I was
lying on the floor." At that moment, the Cincinnati
Stingers' great optimism, like Pelyk, was temporarily floored. Along with his leg, the
Stingers' hope for immediate, first-year success hinged on Pelyk's knee. The accident
occurred only a month ago, just 10 days before the start of training camp. Coach Terry
Slater says, "You cam imagine how I felt when I heard the news." Pelyk is a
28-year-old veteran of seven years with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"I was counting on him to be the defenseman," declares
Slater. "I suppose I've watched him play more than any other guy we've acquired. He's
the guy that does everything. He's the guy with experience and the leader that we needed.
He's the guy that can kill those penalties for you."
Slater inquired anxiously as to Pelyk's condition following the
incident, and the Toronto native informed his coach he was improving rapidly and felt he
would be all right. But on the first day of camp, the knee gave way again and rekindled
everyone's worries. "But it's getting a lot stronger now," says Pelyk, who came
along on this three-game trip through Virginia with the Stingers in order to get in some
practice time. He will play in none of the games.
I put skates on two days ago for the first time and I've been
skating around. It feels good," he enthuses. "I'm lifting weights to strengthen
it. That's the important thing. You've got to work these things or it takes forever to get
over them." Slater also is pleased with the tall, 190-pound defenseman's progress.
"We're still hoping to have him for the opening game," the coach smiles.
"The leg hasn't been to big a problem. He says it's getting stronger and he feels
confident on it already. We just don't want to pressure it too soon."
Pelyk can't imagine why, after three years of junior and eight years
of bruising professional hockey, his knee should give way in a friendly off-season squash
game. "I didn't hit anything with it," he points out. "I was trying to get
fancy with that shot and when I hit it. I put all my weight on that knee and it just
collapsed on me. It was a freak thing. I felt so stupid to hurt it playing squash when I
only play it to keep in condition for hockey. But that's the way knees are. You can do the
same thing just walking down the street."
At the time of the injury, Pelyk could imagine his career going limp
like his knee. After jumping to the Stingers, he was loaned to the WHA's Vancouver team
last year and promptly set about leading the league in short-handed goals. He was looking
forward to this season with much anticipation and the injury he says "had me really
upset". |
