Rest In Peace.

[Oiler35]

To Sami Salo's testicle.

CHICAGO – The defence of the Vancouver Canucks was out to prove a point here on Sunday in Game 5 with the Blackhawks.

They were well on their way, with a solid first period against a Hawks team that came out flat, when the roof appeared to cave in.

Leading 2-0 on goals by blueliners Christian Ehrhoff and Kevin Bieksa, the Canucks were killing a penalty in the final seconds of the first period when key D-man Sami Salo was hit in front of the net by a Duncan Keith slapshot in the spot that most males would cringe at the thought of.

Salo lay on the ice writhing in agony for several minutes after the period ended and had to be helped to the Canucks' dressing room by Vancouver trainers still hunched over. He didn't return and it was reported that he was taken to Northwestern Hospital with a suspected ruptured testicle. If Salo can't play in Tuesday's Game 6, it'll be up to Aaron Rome, now healthy, to fill in.

While losing Salo – a key shutdown defenceman and penalty killer – will certainly hurt the Canucks if he misses Game 6 in Vancouver, the rest of the defence corps did yeoman work coping without him.

It even appeared the Canucks might be down to four defenders when Shane O'Brien was sliced open by the blade of Dustin Byfuglien's stick on a follow-through, but the Vancouver D-man didn't miss a shift. Of course, under those circumstance, he wasn't allowed to.

“I was all over Burnie (trainer Mike Burnstein),” said O'Brien, who was leaking blood like the proverbial stuck pig all the way to the bench. “I was telling him to do it as quick as he possibly could and he was telling me to calm down. He put to glue on it to stop the bleeding and I went back out there. That's playoff hockey.”

Despite O'Brien, Bieksa, Ehrhoff and Alex Edler having to play more minutes than usual, the Canucks were able to slow down the vaunted Chicago attack and keep goalie Roberto Luongo's front porch cleaner than it's been since Game 1's 5-1 win.

In some ways, the Canucks beat the Hawks at their own game. Goalie Antti Niemi was beaten on long shots with a Vancouver player (Alex Burrows both times) screening in front.

Ehrhoff's was key, just 59 second into the game. Bieksa finished off a two on one with Kyle Wellwood at 14:24 of the first and then scored his second on a screener at 13:00 of the second period.

Bieksa, whose play has swung wildly this year, had his best game of the season and played a monster 27:04. Christian Ehrhoff also had his best game of the series. Both are encouraging heading into what's surely to be against a much tougher opponent on Tuesday.

“The five (including Andrew Alberts, who played his usual 10 minutes) of us juggled it pretty well and I don't think we got into too much trouble with long shifts,” said Bieksa. “We adjusted

Scoring the first goal is huge and we didn't sit on it. Then we got the next one and we were able to play our game.”

O'Brien said that's what the whole team has to focus on heading into Game 6.

“We were more calm and limited their time and space,” he said. “It was a good game for us, but we haven't accomplished anything. We just excited to be still playing hockey and hopefully we can force a Game 7.”

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/health/Canuck+Sami+Salo+with+suspected+testicle+injury/3007083/story.html#ixzz0nWUIEmbS

 

[mg91]

<Censored>ING OUCH!!!!!

Poor bastard.

 

[A.E]

<Censored>...I've seen it before though. Same thing happened to a kid on my Lacrosse team, back in high school. We were doing our morning session of doubles and he took a hard-shot right into his junk. It was probably the worst sound I've ever heard...to this day.

 

[snipezo]

Goddamn poor guy. He'll probably miss game 6. Canucks will miss his veteran presence, and his rocket shot on the point.

 

[RipCity32]

Oh my lord. Just thinking about that makes my testicles hurt. Poor dude lmao.

RIP!

 

[Gtown81]

Oh my lord. Just thinking about that makes my testicles hurt. Poor dude lmao.

RIP!

funny how talking about testicle pain makes u actually feel pain in ur testicles, happens with me all the time

 

[RipCity32]

funny how talking about testicle pain makes u actually feel pain in ur testicles, happens with me all the time

Indeed lmao. Everyone I know gets that too.

 

[STLZACH]

<Censored>...I've seen it before though. Same thing happened to a kid on my Lacrosse team, back in high school. We were doing our morning session of doubles and he took a hard-shot right into his junk. It was probably the worst sound I've ever heard...to this day.

that sounds almost as bad lol

 

[dh1333]

he is now listed as day-to-day. his testicle didn't rupture, he has some sort of a groin injury however.