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Archive for October 8th, 2008

Adapt, Improvise, Overcome

08 Oct 2008 @ 9:49 AM

Well.

In a previous post, I questioned (in a roundabout manner) the wisdom of the Hurricanes’ training staff in being so super-aggressive when it comes to rehab.

IF–and this is a large if, of course–TSN’s Darren Dreger is to be believed, Jim Rutherford has asked Pete Friesen and his crew to go in pretty much the opposite direction.

Actually, check that. He’s asked for a different direction, rather than a full-on reverse:

Rutherford’s frustration with injury peaked last month when Hurricanes forward Justin Williams suffered a ruptured achilles tendon while participating in a run.

Williams, who sat out much of last season with a serious knee injury could miss six months with his latest setback.

Rutherford has seen enough and has challenged Pete Friesen, his longtime trainer and strength and conditioning coach to research a training program that is designed for individual athletes and not the team as a larger group.

(boldface courtesy of a poster on hfboards’ Hurricanes forum–where you can still take issue at Dwayne-o and get away with it)

The Anti-Luke quotes the following from JimR:

“I’ve given my opinion cautiously the last few years, because it’s a long way from my expertise,” Rutherford said. “But with the amount of injuries we’ve had, we have to do something different. There’s some reason we’ve had so many and it’s not coincidence.

“I’m not saying don’t train. But in my opinion, athletes today may over-train. There have been a lot more injuries in the past decade, especially in hockey.”

Of course he’s not saying “don’t train”. He’d be foolish to say that. But it’ll be interesting to see how Pete responds to the challenge.

Stay tuned.