At a time of year when most coaches place a premium on team bonding and togetherness, Edmonton Oilers coach Pat Quinn told his players to go home and stay put for 24 hours after beating the Vancouver Canucks Monday night.
That's because his Oilers just eked a victory despite the fact Ales Hemsky played while still feeling the effects of the flu, which kept him out of a game last week, and Gilbert Brule sat out with flu-like symptoms. A year ago Brule being scratched wouldn't have raised an eyebrow, but this year he has found his stride and is second in team scoring, so it might well have had implications on his team's ability to beat the Canucks.
Before everybody departed the rink that evening, all the players, coaching and management staff, trainers, public relations people - basically anybody who had cause to stroll in and out of the dressing room - received their annual flu shots. That's because the last thing any team needs - particularly one expected to be in a dogfight for a playoff spot - is a flu bug knocking players out of the lineup.
The Buffalo Sabres recently had winger Clarke MacArthur wear a surgical mask on a flight to Florida because he wasn't feeling well.
The threat of the H1N1 virus attacking North America has many people taking precautions to avoid being infected. NHL teams are certainly no exception. Hemskey was checked for H1N1, but the results were negative. Oilers spokesman J.J. Hebert said people in the organization might take the H1N1 vaccine when it is made available.
Canada's top pandemic planners are urging people to take the H1N1 shot and insist the vaccine is safe. Prime Minister Stephen Harper told an audience in Edmonton last week if the vaccine is approved he would take the shot.
The fact is many NHL organizations are considering having their players take the vaccine, though some contacted by Sportsnet.ca Tuesday night said because it is not mandatory, some may refuse to take the shot.
"We have encouraged our players to take it, but we can't force them to," a person within the Anaheim Ducks organization said.
Symptoms of the H1N1 virus include fever, cough, sore throat, stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills, fatigue, vomiting and diarrhea.
Already one team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, had something of an H1N1 scare when, during training camp, defenceman Mike Commodore, winger Kristian Huselius and trainer Mike Vogt all came down with the flu. All three were ordered to stay away from the rest of the team while they convalesced. Huselius spent six days at home while Commodore was only away four days - four days of hell.
"If players are sick, we always keep them away from the rest of the group," team spokesman Todd Sharrock said. "I believe they were all tested for H1N1, but none of them had it. But they were pretty sick. Huselius said he had a terrible headache and he had to be in pitch black. Any kind of light at all killed him, he said."
Huselius told the Columbus Dispatch it was the worst six or seven days of his life. Commodore, meanwhile, said he went back and forth between sweats and chills.
Sharrock said his team has been especially careful of any kind of flu bug infecting the team after a few years ago when, during a pre-season meeting, half of the team was infected with a virus. This season Sharrock said hand sanitizers are more prevalent in the dressing room and there is also a sign hanging in the room that educates the players on various ways to avoid getting sick.
Oilers trainer Ken Lowe said he and the rest of the organization are taking the threat of H1N1 seriously.
"For the first time we educated our players at training camp," Lowe told the Edmonton Journal. "I told them to wash their hands going into the weight room and coming out. Towels? Never use someone else's towel. You shouldn't be anyway."