St. Louis Blues Goalie Injuries – Manny Legace Injured on Sarah Palin Carpet

Former goaltender Rick Wamsley last donned the Bluenote in 1988 and retired from the National Hockey League after the 1992-93 season.

Yet no one would have blamed Wamsley if he was thinking that he might be pressed into emergency duty last week when the St. Louis Blues hosted the Florida Panthers.

Wamsley, an assistant coach and goaltender coach for the Blues, watched in the third period as Marek Schwarz became the fourth goaltender to see action for the team this season.

Schwarz helped finish off a 4-0 shutout Saturday for Blues rookie and hometown prospect Ben Bishop (Chaminade High), who limped off with what was termed a “lower body injury.” That vagueness has been a staple of NHL injury reports this season as teams now aren’t required to divulge specifics about player injuries.

Ben Bishop, all 6-foot-7, made his NHL debut a night earlier in a 4-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings when starter Manny Legace suffered a freak injury before he even made it onto the ice. Legace apparently injured his hip when he went to step on carpet that was laid down on the Scottrade Center ice to welcome Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who was on hand to drop the puck for the ceremonial opening faceoff. The carpet gave way and Legace let two goals by in the first period before calling it a night. Check out the video:

The other goaltender to occupy the crease for The Note this year has been Chris Mason, acquired from Nashville during the offseason to back up Legace. In typical freaky Blues fashion, Mason underwent an emergency appendectomy on Oct. 16. The good news is, Mason resumed skating on Monday and is expected to be in goal on Thursday when the Blues play host to Carolina.

Legace and Bishop didn’t practice on Monday, but neither is expected to be out long-term, which is good news for the Blues. The season isn’t even 10 games old and you don’t want to see your organization’s No. 5 netminder seeing live rubber.

The injury bug doesn’t just have prejudice against goalies in St. Louis. The Blues were star-crossed even before the season started when former No. 1 overall draft pick and defenseman Erik Johnson was injured getting out of a golf cart during a team outing at the Lake of the Ozarks before training camp commenced.

The Blues have managed to keep their heads above water despite the tough luck. They are 5-3 and are two points behind Central Division leading Detroit. Helping matters has been an early-season seven-game home stand.

[tags]nhl, st. louis blues, manny legace, sarah palin[/tags]

Tags: ben bishop, manny legace, NHL, sarah palin, St. Louis Blues

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