Three months along, that feeling of being kicked just south of the equator by an especially ornery mule has subsided, somewhat.
The bruising has lessened, the swelling gone down.
Still, the area can’t help but still feel, uh, slightly sensitive.
And, well, even good-natured kibitzing has its boundaries.
“Naw,’’ reports Brandon Hickey. “Nobody’s said a word. We’ve talked, but we haven’t talked about that game. Once you get to a camp like this, we’re all teammates.
“You don’t want to be rubbing anything in anybody’s face. And that was, well, a tough one to lose; a pretty raw experience. You’re so close.’’
Scroll backwards to April 11th, and the NCAA Frozen Four final at TD Garden in Bah-stahn. Elation for Calgary Flames’ prospects Jon Gillies, Mark Jankowski and John Gilmour of the Providence Friars, knighted collegiate kings by virtue of a 4-3 upset win.
For freshman Brandon Hickey of Leduc and his Boston University Terrier teammates, abject misery.
“I think once we get back to our respective schools and start playing again,’’ continues Hickey, following the morning session at Calgary Flames’ development camp out at WinSport, “that might change a little bit. But they’re all good guys.
“So I know they won’t be giving it to me too bad.’’
Talk about fast-tracking. A shade over a year ago, Hickey, still only 19, was the linchpin of the AJHL Spruce Grove Saints’ blueline. In the interim, then to now, he’s been drafted by the Flames (3rd round, 64th overall), joined a perennial U.S. collegiate powerhouse, played in a national championship game and been invited to Canada’s national junior development camp — which includes two games each against the Russians and Czechs — in early August.
It’s all come rushing up on him. The move Leduc to Boston, for starters.
Full Story from The Calgary Herald