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D-pleted Bourque vows to play, but Foote & Ozolinsh are hurting
Posted: Wednesday May 17, 2000 09:15 PM
By Al Strachan, SLAM! Sports DENVER -- As is usually the case, Colorado Avalanche management is releasing only limited amounts of information about the team's injured players. The word on defenceman Adam Foote Wednesday was that he took four stitches inside the upper eyelid and has blood in his right eye after being clipped by Dallas Stars forward Jere Lehtinen's stick in Monday's game. BROKEN BONE? The team said Foote would not play Friday in Game 3 of the NHL Western Conference final, but would not speculate beyond that. However, reliable sources say Foote has suffered a broken orbital bone and will miss considerably more than one game. In fact, it is believed that unless Foote ignores medical advice, his season is over. The play occurred before the game was three minutes old when Lehtinen, coming down the left side, took a shot. On the follow-through, his stick clipped Foote over the eye. "When I took the shot, I didn't know I hit him," Lehtinen said yesterday. "I saw him down and I was wondering if it was me or someone else who had done it. "I felt sorry about it but it was an accident. I was a little concerned after the game." Another of Colorado's top defencemen, Sandis Ozolinsh, twisted his knee on an irrelevant play behind his own net in the dying seconds of the game. As the Stars' postgame celebration broke out, he hobbled over to the net, then leaned on the crossbar for a few moments before heading gingerly to the bench. After the game, he walked with a limp until he was supplied with crutches. The Avs say x-rays were negative and that Ozolinsh has "a bruised foot." But in the Dallas room, the speculation was that Ozolinsh had suffered an injury that was severe enough to keep him out of action for at least the rest of the conference final. The previous Colorado player to suffer a "bruised foot" was Ray Bourque, who has been out of action with a knee injury since May 1. Bourque is expected to play Friday, but the Avs would make no commitment in that regard yesterday.
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