2x Stanley Cup Champ And Ultimate Hockey Warrior, Matthew Tkachuk, Reveals He Tore His Abductor Straight Off The Bone This Year
Christian Petersen. Getty Images.Everybody knows how much the 4 Nations Face-Off meant to Matthew Tkachuk. The man was born to play hockey in a USA sweater, and he treated it with at much reverence as playing in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. You knew the only way he wouldn't be on that ice in the final against Canada was if his legs were literally ripped off of his body.
Turns out, it was something close enough that held him to playing for just over 6 minutes in that game against Canada, and then held him out for the rest of the regular season.
This is going to shock a lot of people, but I actually didn't go to medical school. I don't even know what "tore my abductor off the bone" even means, but it sounds excruciating. Think about eating ribs when you get that perfect bite of meat straight off the bone. I'd imagine it would feel a lot like that, but if the ribs weren't perfectly cooked to fall right off the bone. We're talking about a tough rib here where you have to actually work to rip that meat from the bone.
He tears his abductor bone off the muscle and then "had some hernia thing". A hip abductor tear usually takes 4-6 months to fully recover, and then a hernia usually takes 4-6 weeks to recover back to full activity. That puts him right around that full recovery time right now, but the 4 Nations Face-Off were 2 months before the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I don't know if we've ever heard of anyone getting healthier as the Stanley Cup Playoffs go along. Clearly he was still playing through a brutal situation through the early rounds, and somehow managed to not make anything worse along the way. Finally he got himself back to a point where he could put up 7 points in 6 games during the Final, and Matthew Tkachuk is now a back-to-back Stanley Cup Champion.
He had to sit on the bench and watch while Connor McDavid scored the overtime game winner for Team Canada at the 4 Nations. And now this time around, McDavid had to sit on the bench and watch as Matthew Tkachuk and the Panthers celebrate winning their 2nd consecutive Cup against the Oilers.
I'd imagine that's worth the pain. Certified Hockey Guy.