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Knee injuries have to be about the worst. I had a rather serious one last year. The D-man took a slap shot from the point, I went down in a B-fly. At the last moment, the puck changed directions, and instinctively so did I. My kneecap popped right out of the socket, and I was in immediate pain. Thanks to 10% positioning, and 90% pure luck, the put was in my glove and the whistle blew. I was on the ice for 5 minutes trying to straighten it out, but that didn't work. I was helped into the locker room by a couple of teammates with the paramedics. They had to cut my pants, and sweatpants because i could not straighten my leg. Off to the hospital I went, and while the doc was trying to straighten it a tad for a better quality x-ray, it popped back in. He described it as a "kaplunk" sound that he hasn't really heard before. The relief was almost instant.
Knees can be very tricky. Hockey injuries can be even more confusing to comprehend since our legs aren't meant to flare, and the majority of the saves we make put our body in awkward positions.
Ever since then I have been wearing a knee brace. I feel fine now, but just want to do anything possible to prevent it in the future. Some day a childhood/teen hood of being a baseball catcher and a hockey goalie will catch up to me. Just hope its later rather than sooner.
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