Thursday, October 1, 2015 – Submitted by Mario Annicchiarico / Times Colonist
Welcome to the league, rookie, and watch out for those errant sticks.
First-year Victoria Grizzlies forward Alex Peck experienced an abrupt introduction to the B.C. Hockey League, losing half a tooth and a piece of his tongue in back-to-back Saturday games.
“I actually went on Fast Hockey and watched the replay, sticks both times,” the 19-year-old Williston, Vermont, native said with a chuckle. “Mom’s not too happy about it. Back-to-back games, too, but no Saturday game this week, so I should be fine.”
Peck can laugh about it now as he wears the war wounds of a junior hockey player.
“It was painful for about the first five minutes, then the adrenaline kicked in and I got back into the game,” he said, missing next to no time.
“I don’t think he missed a shift, actually,” said Grizzlies general manager and head coach Craig Didmon. “He’s a character guy. Most of us didn’t even know until after the game. It’s one of those wacky injuries.”
It’s one that nearly kept him out of last Sunday’s game as a concern grew over the possible inflammation of his tongue under full duress.
“I tried to sit him on Sunday and he didn’t want anything to do with that,” said Didmon.
“I really wanted to play,” Peck said of last Sunday’s 2-1 overtime win over Prince George, the team’s first victory of the season. “I felt I was ready and I thought I played pretty well. We thought it might happen [become inflamed] and affect my breathing. I went out and took warm-up. I went hard and it was fine.
“It wasn’t bleeding and it didn’t become inflamed.
“It’s been awkward to eat for the last couple of days,” Peck added.
As for the tooth, he won’t be seeing the dentist just yet.
“I’m going to wait it out to see if I lose anymore before I start getting them fixed,” he said with a laugh.
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