Infections Serious New NHL Foe
By JOHN GLENNON
Staff Writer

Hockey teams are accustomed to seeing players fall by the wayside because of broken bones, sprained ligaments or torn tendons. But a malady of a different sort has sidelined a handful of the game's more prominent names this season.

Infections that began as simple cuts or irritations have turned far more dangerous, forcing Toronto's Ed Belfour to the bench, Boston's Joe Thornton to the operating table and Toronto's Mikael Renberg to the point that amputation was considered. The latest casualty was Detroit's Darren McCarty, who just days ago went on injured reserve for 2-3 weeks after suffering an infection in his elbow.

The serious consequences of infection are no surprise to Predators Coach Barry Trotz, who once had to undergo emergency surgery for an ankle infection. Nor do they come as news to veteran Predators defenseman Bill Houlder, who once saw San Jose teammate Gary Suter's tricep muscle nearly eaten away by infection. But this year's batch of bad news certainly has opened players' eyes to the implications of infection.

''It's just like anything in that you don't pay much attention to it until it's something serious,'' Predators defenseman Cale Hulse said. ''But it seems to have popped up a lot this year for some reason.

''Before, you might be wiping the snow off your skate, cut your finger and not even think about it. But now you're definitely thinking about covering it up right away.'' It's no surprise that NHL locker rooms, home to two dozen sweating men and their equipment a couple of times per day, can be breeding ground for all kinds of bacteria.

Trainers and equipment managers do their best to sterilize the environment - sanitizing bathrooms, cleaning wounds and washing uniforms and equipment. But sometimes it's not enough.

Players are often tripped up by what seem to see the most innocent difficulties. Belfour missed four games this season when he cut his hand on the buckle of his goalie pad and the sore became infected.

That was nothing compared to the plight of his teammate, Renberg, who sliced open his hand while tying skates during a Toronto road trip. Bacteria, possibly from Renberg's gloves, entered the wound and he eventually had to be rushed to a Vancouver hospital.

Reports said doctors considered amputating Renberg's hand because the infection had become so severe, but the Maple Leafs' right wing later downplayed the situation.

''There has been too much made of that,'' he said. ''But I was scared. The doctors couldn't give me the answers I wanted right away. I know if I'd come in a day later, it might have been much worse.''

Most of the problems are staph infections, caused by the staphylococcus aureus bacteria that's commonly found living on the skin of many people. When it enters the body, usually through an open cut or break in the skin, it can lead to problems as simple as boils or abscesses, or to serious conditions like food poisoning, toxic-shock syndrome and pneumonia, among others.

Hockey players have battled the bacteria for decades. Trotz, for instance, can recall a frightening incident from his playing days.

A small cut on his ankle, repeatedly irritated by Trotz's sockless skates, turned into a serious enough infection that a doctor drained the swollen wound. ''He said if it came back, we'd have to take the next step,'' Trotz said. ''The next day, it swelled right back up again, so I went to see him. He looked at it and said, 'Can you be at the hospital by one o'clock?' ''

Trotz underwent an operation in which doctors scraped his ankle bone to remove the infection. He took antibiotics the next two months to complete the healing process.

Dan Redmond, head athletic trainer for the Predators, said conditions surrounding players these days are far better than they were in the past. ''Obviously, there's a lot of sweaty guys with equipment, and you've got them on buses and planes together,'' he said. ''But we clean and sanitize showers regularly, and their practice gear gets washed every day.

''I think one of the biggest things now is that their equipment [shoulder pads, shin pads, etc.] gets washed on a pretty regular basis now, too. In the old days, they didn't wash that as much. And you see guys turning their equipment over a lot more these days, instead of keeping one pair of gloves for 10 years or something like that.''

Until a failsafe procedure is found, Redmond will continue to keep a close eye on cuts, the kind a player might receive from a fall to the ice, the slice of a skate or the scrape of a stick.

The first order of prevention is usually a simple ointment and a cover to protect the wound from contact with clothing or equipment. But should warning signs like warmth, redness or pus develop, that usually means a trip to the doctor and a prescription for antibiotics.
Or worse.

Drugs, for instance, weren't enough to turn around the infection of Boston's Thornton, one that began as a simple split elbow in late December. He wound up missing almost two weeks of the season in January, spending six days in the hospital and undergoing surgery to clean the elbow. Thornton was forced to sleep with his arm propped straight in the air, allowing the infection to drain out.
''You hear all those horror stories, but you never believe that it could happen to you,'' Thornton said. ''It is pretty scary because you don't know what's going to happen.

''It's out of your control. It was a little weird.''