Brandon Coburn during the moring skate prior to Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Flyers and Penguins. He did not play that night (3-2 Flyers win) or in the final game Sunday(6-0) as the Penguins wrapped up the series 4-1. The Stanley Cup playoffs brings with it an exponential increase in the level of intensity and determination. The high fervor and battle-like mentality yeilds a high number of injuries as players are aware that each shift can determine whether they carry on or see the end of their playoff lives. In that vein, the hitting becomes much more acrimonious, shots are unflinchingly blocked(the Flyer's Patrick Thoresen nearly lost a testicle doing so in in the Game 1, Round 1, 5-4 loss to Washington, and defender Kimmo Timonen was sidelineded for all but Game 5 of the Pittsburgh series due to a blood clot from a shot blocked in Game 4 of the series against Montreal), the pace relentless as the game, especially in the playoffs, firmly subtantiates the equation, f=ma.
With the Flyers on the edge of elimination a few days ago some wondered why Coburn, overcoming a concussion from a shot to the head that left his eye nearly shut, or Timonen would risk further injury especially with their team at a seemingly insurmountable disadvantage. As is the case with many such injuries in the NHL, many also wondered why further preventative measures aren't in place.
Of course, any ground for caution only bears weight for Coburn's injury, which was caused by a deflected puck striking him in the face. The half visors have been continuously touted to prevent eye and facial injuries. They would definitely help to some degree but given the angle and the speed the puck travels, you'd still have some horrific eye injuires, since, as with Coburn's case, deflections would still cause a problem, as you can have pucks hop from the ice at high velocity-let alone off someone's stick- to shoot upwards at a sharp angle. There's also the danger of being slashed in the face not to mention a plethora of additional scenarios: pucks to the throat (the Flyers Chris Therien ended a Habs defender's career a few seasons ago with a slapshot that said defender blocked with his windpipe), the [ouch] testicles, the feet (blood clots are serious business), and the knees, not to mention anywhere else, as well as the danger posed by skate blades(within a few days of each other in early February, Steve Downie's skate cut linesman Pat Dapuzzo, followed by the scare given Richard Zednik that was a macbre reminder of when Blues goalie, Clint Malarchuk, had his jugular severed on the ice and managed to survive). You can take reasonable measures, but too much is going to result in limited mobility and/or diminished vision when you're talking about more cumbersome cages or throat guards. Visors are a good way to go as they certainly don't restrict vision. Anything that gets in the way though is viewed with a disdain akin to the samurai, who kept their armor paired down to ensure complete freedom of movement.
For the most part, however, hockey players operate with a steely indifference, as the frequency of devastating injuries remain extremely low; they think probability, not possibility. It's certainly unfortunate to see someone take a stick blade to the eye and end up with diminished sight- as was the case with Bryan Berard in the '99-00 season- but such stick injuries are extremely rare, with eye injuries by puck being more likely, and even these are highly infrequent, with the force of impact in these occurances being diminished by the rounded edge of the puck striking the orbital bones around the eye.
As for Coburn's attempt at getting back on the ice, there's no sicker feeling than being unable to help your teammates. Down 0-3 or up 3-0 in a series makes no difference whatsoever for a hockey player. This notion is all the more pressing when facing elimination, as live or die, you want to be in the battle to the end with your teammates. In all of sport, but especially within the confines of hockey and soccer wherein the components merge into one cohesive unit, selfless players possess this tacit understanding, with their dedication unwavering even amidst the most dire of times. Their resolve is akin to that of ShichirÅji of Seven Samurai, who simply smiles when told by Kambei, his former superior, that their next mission "may be the one that kills us." Of course, before returning in Game 5, Kimmo Timonen waited for the doctor's assurance that there was no danger of the blood clot in his foot becoming dislodged or exacerbated to the extent that his toes would lose their vascular flow and would have to be amputated. He merely had to deal with a mixture of excruciating pain and numbness with each stride, while Coburn was unable to return to action as the vision in his left eye did not suffiently improve. It's a hardly a moot point to say that either player was better off sitting out the end of a series turned hopeless for the Flyers. For Coburn, there is little comfort in knowing that he did everything he could to try and get back in the lineup, for even Timonen, of limited capacity in Game 5, surely regrets fate keeping him from being 100%. Both players resiliency and determinantion is reflective of the classic lines of regret that mark the end of The Wild Bunch, wherein, Deke Thornton(Robert Ryan), the bounty hunter leader, says with deep chagrin,"I should have been there, I should have been there," while viewing the bodies of his former comrades after slowly coming into empathy for them over the course of the movie, and prior to shooting the posse amidst his horrific self-loathing.
