|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
'I feel really good' Neilson expects to coach in second round of playoffs
Posted: Monday April 10, 2000 09:40 PM
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Philadelphia Flyers coach Roger Neilson said Monday he is feeling "good enough to coach" following an exercise regimen as recovers from cancer treatment. However, he reiterated that he plans to wait until the second round of the playoffs to return. "I feel really good. As a matter of fact, I feel good enough to coach really, but the doctors and [general manager] Bobby Clarke feel that I should wait till the second round ... so during the first round I'll just help out in any way I can," Neilson, 65, said. The Flyers open the playoffs Thursday night against Buffalo. Neilson said not being able to participate was not what was on his mind during his hospital stay. "While you're in the hospital you're just kind of trying to survive," Neilson said. "The last three weeks, we've been working hard trying to get back in shape and walking three miles a day and getting a lot of swimming in down in Florida ... and we're looking forward to just being back with the team." Neilson also said he expects the Flyers will work well with injured star Eric Lindros if he recovers from his Grade II concussion in time to rejoin the team during the playoffs. "The players realize that a player of his caliber, if he's playing well, is going to help us," Neilson said. Lindros had publicly criticized the team for not recognizing quickly that his injury was as serious as it turned out to be. Team officials initially said he did not have a concussion, then concluded he had a Grade I concussion, the least severe kind, until he went to a specialist in Chicago who determined it was a Grade II concussion, which can cause memory loss. The team removed Lindros from the position of team captain following his public criticism, but said the move was not punishment for his remarks. "Eric and I talk on the phone every so often but, yeah, it was a difficult thing for the team," Neilson said. "A lot of things were said that should have been said in private. It wasn't a good situation." Interim coach Craig Ramsay, the assistant coach who has been filling in for Neilson during his recovery, agreed with Neilson that he expects the team to work well with Lindros. "The players realize how good a hockey player he is and what he can bring with him," Ramsay said. Dr. Isadore Brodsky, the chief of oncology hematology at Hahnemann University Hospital in downtown Philadelphia, has been treating Neilson for a form of cancer called multiple myeloma. Neilson was diagnosed with cancer on Dec. 9. On March 10, he underwent a stem cell transplant that was designed to leave him free of cancer. He was released from the hospital on March 23. Multiple myeloma form of cancer similar to leukemia. It attacks plasma in the bone marrow and quickly makes blood cells malignant. The coach's only sister, Joan Neilson, died from the same disease two years ago. New York Yankees pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre said Sunday that he has the same form of blood cancer, which was diagnosed about a year ago. Stottlemyre, 58, said he will begin treatment in New York immediately, getting the same type of transplant Neilson did, but expects to keep working with the team.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
