He had double hip surgery in 2012.
He went through three heart fluid removal surgeries in 2013.
He played with separated shoulder and ligament damage in his wrist in 2015 QMJHL President Cup and the MasterCard Memorial Cup.
He probably needs surgery on that wrist and quite possibly another hip procedure.
Kurt Etchegary called it a career last week.
At 21.
It’s always a sad story when the head says go but the body says no; the game is littered with such tales. But the former Quebec Remparts captain knows it’s time to walk away from the game that’s kept him from his St. John’s, Newfoundland home since the age of 13 when he moved to Montreal with his mother and sister to pursue his hockey dream.
It’s been a whirlwind of a career for Etchegary, who first met Patrick Roy at the 2006 Memorial Cup in Moncton when he was playing in the Junior Memorial Cup. Etchegary watched the Remparts win the big tournament and was then drafted by their Hockey Hall of Fame coach/GM/owner in the second round five years later.
Captaining the historic Remparts at the Memorial Cup for the swan song of Le Colisee last season was clearly a career highlight, despite falling just short and bowing out to the Kelowna Rockets in the semifinal. And it was at the tournament when the injuries started piling up.
In game five of the President Cup final against Rimouski, Etchegary was hit by Christopher Clapperton, separating his shoulder in the process. It was the first shift of the game, but Etchegary played on—all the way to game seven, which Quebec lost in double OT after a controversial penalty call.
In the Memorial Cup, Etchegary needed freezing needles to dull the pain and each shift probably made things worse. You could tell he was in agony going up against big centremen like Kelowna’s Leon Draisaitl and Oshawa’s Michael McCarron, but Etchgary was determined even though linemate Adam Erne (Tampa Bay Lightning) occasionally took some of the faceoffs.
His wrist was a mess as well, which made each draw excruciating. Matter of fact, both Etchegary’s linemates, Erne and Anthony Duclair (Arizona Coyotes) played hurt and winger Guillaume Gautier fought through a severe ankle injury. Tough team.
After the 9-3 semifinal loss to Kelowna, I caught something on my way out of the arena. Our Sportsnet crew had just wrapped for the night and headed down to ice level for post-game pressers, but for some reason I went back inside the bowl.
As an aside, I love empty arenas. Always have. To me they represent potential, the future, achievement and remind us that the place with the most action can also be the source of much calm. As hockey players will tell you: Arenas are where they feel most like themselves, but also where they can go beyond themselves by realizing who they can be as individuals while part of something greater.
That night I saw something unique in the otherwise empty Colisee.
Etchegary and teammate Zach Moody at centre ice.
Nobody else around.
Just two teammates standing at the dot as one has just realized his junior career was over.
I took this picture
This wasn’t about what’s next, it was about what was.
It was overager Etchegary’s last junior game, and he was in no hurry to leave. “I don’t think I left the room until after midnight,” he told me. “I couldn’t leave. All my teamamtes had their equipment off and I hadn’t even started to get undressed, so I told Zach ‘let’s go back out on the ice.’
“I was thinking that this moment is the last I’ll get to stand in this historic rink and that four years passed so quick, I wish I could relive it. I was also thankful I was able to enjoy my last moment there with one of my best friends on the ice by my side.”
Etchegary went to Detroit Red Wings camp, then Grand Rapids, Dayton and then a couple of games in the Czech Republic where the lifestyle was not for him. Eric Veilleux’s Norfolk Admirals of the ECHL came calling but Etchegary knew this was the end of the line. “I knew it was over my first game in Norfolk when my hips started to be so sore that hopping over the bench became a challenge and after a long shift I would get sharp pains.”
And that was it.
Etchgary retired on his Twitter account last week saying “Due to numerous injuries, surgeries and pain in certain areas my body is no longer able to compete at the level at which I would like it to.”
Thank you to @SJMHA @lsllionsaaa @quebec_remparts @LMHFHockey for the amazing memories. pic.twitter.com/NluRZtnWOk
— Kurt Etchegary (@KurtEtchegary) November 26, 2015
He told me his head keeps telling him to have the surgeries, fight to get back into the game and grind it out, but his body tells him to shut it down because things are getting worse quickly.
And as tough as it was to play through the pain, endure surgeries and risk future health on a nightly basis, I would imagine writing those words was the hardest and maybe most painful thing Etchgary has ever done.
Cue the WJC debates
Although there will always be grumblings, I don’t think many people were surprised at all by the Team Canada invitations for world junior camp. I thought maybe Rouyn-Noranda defenceman and Boston Bruins prospect Jeremy Lauzon would get an invite, but can’t argue with who Hockey Canada went with.
Some believed that since the tournament was overseas they may have gone with three goalies in case one got hurt, but the feeling seems to be they can get a goalie to Helsinki in an emergency fast enough that it shouldn’t matter.
As for NHLers making the trek to Finland for the tournament, I can’t really see anyone except Jake Virtanen being released. St. Louis is using Robby Fabbri in a significant capacity, ditto Vancouver with Jared McCann, so scratch them off. Virtanen is probably the only player to become this year’s Curtis Lazar.
Something else to watch: At the CHL Canada Russia Series, the line of Mitch Marner, Spencer Watson and Michael Dal Colle was fantastic and found chemistry right away. Have to wonder if Hockey Canada looks at keeping that trio intact.
Will the Rebels get stronger?
One player to keep an eye on after the tournament is Calgary Flames prospect Brandon Hickey of Boston University. The Red Deer Rebels hold his rights after a summer trade with the Tri-City Americans and it wouldn’t be a long shot to see the Leduc, Alta., native who played for the Spruce Grove Saints of the AJHL leave BU for a guaranteed shot at the Memorial Cup. Considering Rebels owner/GM Brent Sutter made the deal for Hickey during Team Canada’s summer development camp after spending a few days out there leaves one to wonder.
Reinforcements ain’t cheap
Once again the prices are high in the OHL with overage defenceman Miles Liberati going from the North Bay Battalion to the powerhouse Kitchener Rangers in exchange for two seconds, a third and an eighth-round pick. But then again, Kingston set the market in some ways this season by making the move for Oshawa defenceman and Maple Leafs prospect Steven Desrocher. They paid with three seconds, two thirds and a fifth.
With the Oshawa Generals in rebuilding mode after winning the Memorial Cup last season, attention is turning to Michael Dal Colle and where he ends up.
There was talk that the Windsor Spitfires were interested, but considering they’re hoping to host the 2017 Memorial Cup it wouldn’t make sense for them to trade assets and go for it this season in a stacked Western Conference. Better to wait until next season to make a big splash.
If I’m a betting man I see Kingston landing the New York Islanders first-rounder. The Frontenacs are going all in.
London again?
Speaking of the Memorial Cup, would it surprise anyone to see the London Knights try to get the tournament again? They’re experts at running the tourney and there’s no doubt they will be able to ice an elite level team. Would seem a little too soon since London hosted the last time the tournament was in the OHL, but I don’t see it being out of the question.
Bean counting
We took a closer look at NHL Draft prospect and Calgary Hitmen blueliner Jake Bean on Friday Night Hockey last week with Damien Cox, and the story of how he got to the WHL is an interesting one.
Bean was never drafted, but many had seen him play at the Edge School for Athletes in Calgary, where Hitmen GM Mike Moore was a former athletic director with two daughters who went there. People from Edge kept telling the Hitmen crew to keep an eye on Bean, who continued to excel.
Undersized in his bantam draft year, Hitmen staff scouted him heavily right up until the Alberta Cup but didn’t take him. They did, however, invite him to camp in 2013 after a summer of shooting 500 pucks a day and burning a pair of running shoes right to the ground doing stop/start beep drills.
Bean’s father is the COO of the Calgary Flames, so it’s not as if he wasn’t known around hockey circles and every team had a chance to bring him in. “How he got through the summer after the draft to us I’ll never know,” Moore told me.
Cape Breton jumping for Joly
Cape Breton got the trade ball rolling in the “Q” last week, picking up 20-year-old Michael Joly from Rimouski for what is reportedly a first and other draft picks. Most likely the Screaming Eagles are sending assets to Rimouski they’ll receive from Chicoutimi for Alexandre Ranger not reporting after a trade and signing in the AHL instead. Although undrafted, Joly has been to both Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs camp.