Music: {allcanada} Luongo gives team a fright

Monday, November 1, 2010

{allcanada} Luongo gives team a fright

The Vancouver Canucks held their team Halloween party on Thursday. But nothing was quite as scary as the opening minutes of practice at Rogers Arena the next morning.

Just moments after goalie Roberto Luongo (notes) stepped between the posts he was prone on the ice, writhing in pain after taking a Kevin Bieksa (notes) slapshot off the back of the leg. Vancouver's No. 1 goalie stayed face-down for a couple of minutes, flexing his appendage in an attempt to quell the discomfort.

"It hit the nerve, so at first you lose feeling in your leg a little bit, but it came back slowly," said Luongo, who iced the stinger following the spirited 75-minute session. "It was more of a scare off the hop than anything. But nothing serious, so that's a good thing."

Not that Luongo could resist his own parting salvo.

"The good news is we're going to be working on skills tomorrow," he said. "So guys will be working on keeping their head up when taking a pass or shot."

Ouch. That one's aimed right at you, Kev.

"I went down there and didn't really look," admitted Bieksa. "I thought I'd surprise him with a quick shot five-hole and I hit him in the leg as he was turning. He wasn't even looking."

Bieksa skated right over to his fallen teammate, thinking the worst. It took a few minutes before the blood rushed back into the defenceman's extremities.

"For a minute or two I was trying to talk to him, asking him if he was all right or if he needs anything and he wouldn't even talk to me, so I was, 'Oh no, this guy's in a lot of pain,' " said Bieksa. "I thought he'd be walking around in a cast by now, the way he was down there. But sure enough, he gets up and finishes practice. I guess I deserved for him to make me feel bad, I should have had my head up before shooting."

The give-and-take didn't end there. Boys will be boys, don't you know.

"There's no referee, I don't know why he was trying to draw a penalty," Bieksa continued, with a big grin. "No, I'm just glad that he's not hurt, it could have been a lot worse. It's a good lesson— sometimes at the beginning of practice you're not mentally focused. It was my fault."