Crucial fortnight ahead for hopeful Sarich

The 30-year-old defenceman has been out since the middle of November after suffering a freak injury to his kidney during a game against the Nottingham Panthers.

And while Sarich will have been relieved to finally hit the ice once again in the past two weeks, he knows he still faces a race against time to play any further part in the club’s bid to retain their Elite League regular season title.

“It’s been a case of good and bad in the last couple of weeks really,” said Sarich yesterday.

“The results from my most recent scans were promising and they seem pleased with how I’m doing. But I’ve had a few setbacks in terms of not feeling well after being out on the ice.

“That’s been disappointing but I guess it has to be expected really and I probably got a bit ahead of myself after I first went out on the ice.

“But I’m still hopeful of playing again this season, although this next week or two are going to be crucial to my chances really.

“If I come through the next two weeks – great, but if I feel ill or have another setback or two then it doesn’t look too good.”

Given the serious nature of Sarich’s injury, most people had written off the Saskatchewan-born blue liner’s chances of returning this season.

In the hours immediately following the 3-2 overtime win over Nottingham back in November in which Sarich was injured from a seemingly innocuous hit, the prospects of him playing again at all looked bleak as doctors prepared him for the prospect of losing his entire kidney.

At the time, Sarich – now in his seventh season with the Steelers – thought no more of it, even going on to claim an assist on Mark Thomas’s overtime winner.

But while the rest of his team-mates celebrated, Sarich was being attended to by team doctor Geoff Butcher after which he was whisked off to hospital for further inspection after some internal bleeding around the kidney area had been determined.

Once at hospital, things initially took a sharp turn for the worse.

“When the doctors tell you that you might lose a kidney, you quickly realise how serious the situation is,” recalled Sarich.

“But I’ve only ended up losing 15 per cent use of my kidney but, believe me, 85 per cent is a lot better than nothing at all so I’m quite happy.

“I think if I’d lost my kidney it would have been a completely different scenario. You can function with one, but that one becomes doubly precious and with hockey being the way it is, you wouldn’t want to roll the dice too many times.”

A week-long stay in hospital followed for Sarich, pictured below, followed by weeks of recovery at home in front of mind-numbing daytime TV and a growing dependence on chocolate.

Dr Butcher said in his 11 years working with the club he had not come across an injury like that suffered by the Steelers stalwart.

“With the kind of hit it was, it’s usually the spleen that gets hurt there,” said Dr Butcher. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.

“Personally, I think it’s going to be very difficult for him to play again this season. He’s lost a lot of fitness, plus the fact that it does take a while for something like this to really heal up.

“But, on the plus side, he’s a fit young bloke and he will get his fitness back a lot more quickly because of that.

“If the guys at the hospital hadn’t been able to stop the bleeding around his kidney then there would have been no option but to open him up and remove the kidney and that would have put his career in serious jeopardy.”

While mindful of the odds initially being stacked against him of making a return this season, optimistic Sarich refuses to rule out the prospect.

“With the timing of the injury and the typical recovery time there could be an opportunity to come back but, saying that, I don’t want to get too far ahead,” he said. If it happens it would be great – I’ll do anything I can to help.”

Regardless of whether Sarich makes it back this season, it seems both club and player are keen to resume their working relationship for the 2012-13 campaign.

“If the club were to offer me something for next season, I’d be more than glad to come back,” added Sarich.

Steelers’ player-coach Ryan Finnerty would certainly like Sarich back next season and says the club are putting no pressure on him to force his way back into the reckoning too soon.

“If Rod was somehow able to get back into contention this season that would be great, but there’s certainly no pressure on him from us – as far as I’m concerned he’s with us next season if he wants to be,” said Finnerty. “It is hard to replace a player of Rod‘s quality. We’ve been fortunate enough to bring in some guys to fill the gap, but you don’t really ever replace Rod Sarich.”

n Read Rod Sarich’s exclusive online blog at www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/other-sports/ice-hockey