About that sneaking suspicion…
16 years ago
Mathieu, how could you? I thought we had a, well, you know, a connection. Now this? A fib? Where’s the trust?
So, now TSN is reporting Mathieu Garon didn’t practice with the Oilers today and that he “has an unspecified lower body injury which he’s been struggling with for about a week.”
That, at least, explains a fourth straight start by Dwayne Roloson—a sub-par effort in which he allowed four goals on 21 shots in Thursday’s back-breaking 4–1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
Garon is injured.
On March 16 I wrote…
Where’s Garon?
Is Mathieu Garon injured? There’s no word from the Edmonton Oilers on that, but after making 17 straight starts, Garon was back on the bench for the second straight game as Dwayne Roloson got the call in a 2-1 shootout win over the San Jose Sharks.While Roloson was outrageously good in San Jose, making 48 saves, his back-to-back starts—he beat Phoenix 5-2 with 38 saves Saturday—seem odd, given the circumstances…It’s common practice to split back-to-back games between a starter and the back-up. Sitting out your starter, assuming he’s healthy, for both games is anything but common—especially when those games are played in less than 24 hours. While Garon may just have some bumps and bruises as opposed to having a specific injury, I suspect there’s more to Roloson’s back-to-back starts than just “rest” for the starter. As sharp as Roloson looks, Garon may get more rest if he, ahem, needs it.
A day later, after morning practice at Rexall Place, I asked Garon if he was banged up after Steve Staios had run Milan Hejduk into him in Denver and Matt Greene had dumped 250-pound Dustin Byfuglien on him in Chicago. Specifically, I asked about an ankle I was told “is tender.”
Garon assured me he wasn’t injured.
On March 17 I wrote…
No Secrets
I implied yesterday that Garon might be hiding an injury, thus the back-to-back starts for Roloson. While Garon was yanked in Denver after being bowled over by Steve Staios and Milan Hejduk, he told me this morning it was a straight pull by MacTavish—no injury involved.Hiding injuries is common practice down the stretch and in the playoffs—like Jason Smith playing with a broken toe at the end of the season a few years back. Nobody told the beat writers. It happens all the time.
What a relief. I feared, considering Roloson was ordinary in his third straight start, an 8–4 win over Phoenix, Craig MacTavish had completely lost his marbles by putting Roloson in against the Canucks. No worries. He’s sane.
But, Mathieu, I thought you and I…
—Listen to Robin Brownlee every Thursday from 4 to 5pm on Total Sports with Bob Stauffer on Team 1260.
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