BOISE, Idaho -- Joey Hope pulled up the left leg of his sweat pants to display the damage. The inside of his ankle remains swollen and bruised, red, purple and slightly scabbed, tender to the touch.
He pressed his right index finger against the wound.
"Every time I touch it, it sends a little stinger down my foot,'' he said.
He paused, and shrugged again.
"It's one of those annoying things,'' Hope continued. "It's just an ache in your skate the whole time.''
The ankle hurts worst, he said, when he makes a tight turn and brings pressure to bear on his left skate.
Another shrug.
Four months have passed since a searing shot struck the Alaska Aces defenseman directly on the bone on the inside of his left ankle during a game in Victoria, British Columbia, leaving a deep bone bruise and nerve damage. Aces trainer Jared Crawford uses words like "chronic'' and "inflamed'' to describe the injury, unlike any he has ever seen or that any medical personnel he has consulted have ever seen.
Hope missed 23 straight games, most of January and February. He visited foot and ankle specialists, a physical therapist and a massage therapist. He has tried pain medications and a special patch that numbs the area. Improvement has been marginal at best.
Late in the regular season, doctors told him nothing but lots of rest -- two to four months off the ice -- will heal the harm.
"I told the doctors, 'It's getting late in the season -- if there's something you can do, do it,' '' Hope recalled. " 'If not, it's something I'll have to deal with.' Either I deal with it, or stop playing.''
Another shrug.
As if not playing were an option.
Joey Hope is a hockey player. Pulling the chute on the season, as they say around the rink, wasn't remotely a consideration. The Aces are playing in the ECHL playoffs. Hockey players live to play in the playoffs. End of story.
"Every time he puts the skates on, he's gutting it out,'' said Aces coach Davis Payne.
Not that you would know from Hope's quiet demeanor, though maybe you would if you saw how frequently he visits Crawford's training room.
"He knows he's got to battle through it,'' Crawford said. "He's been good about it. He doesn't make a fuss, just goes about his business, patient.''
Of late, Hope hasn't been putting his skates on for many games. He skated in just one of the Aces' first 12 playoff games, relegated to the stands when defensemen Zack FitzGerald, Patrick Wellar and Stephen Wood arrived back from the American Hockey League. That's the league, one step above the ECHL, where Hope played his first three seasons as a pro.
Again, no complaints have been forthcoming from Hope, who happily returned home to Anchorage last year with his wife, Chellsee, and their 2-year-old son, Jaden.
"It's frustrating, don't get me wrong,'' Hope said. "But for me to mope around and make it an issue is not necessary. That's part of hockey.
"Was it tough that Fitzy and Wellar and Wood came back? Sure. Payner was left with decisions he had to make. That's his job and I have no problem with that. We were winning, so why change?''
Hope's quality of character hasn't been lost on Payne, who doesn't miss much.
"You wish you had 20 guys like that -- that don't ask why and just do what's asked of them,'' Payne said. "He's been very professional about it.''
But the defending Kelly Cup champion Aces didn't win in the first two games of the National Conference Finals against the Idaho Steelheads. They lost Games 1 and 2 on home ice at Sullivan Arena and arrived here for Friday's Game 3 desperate for a win.
Wood had struggled throughout the playoffs, making more turnovers than usual and some bad decisions. That's where Hope, a 25-year-old who grew up in Anchorage, came in. Payne and assistant coach Keith McCambridge inserted him in the lineup in Wood's place for Game 3.
"Fortunately, I got an opportunity and tried to make the best of it,'' Hope said.
He did just that by making smart, simple plays. There was a time when Joey Hope was an offensive dynamo, a stunningly smooth skater with a cannonading shot. That's how he went from East High and the Alaska All Stars to USA Hockey's National Team Development Program after his sophomore season. That's how he ended up in the AHL before becoming an Ace this season.
But three surgeries on his right shoulder -- one for a torn bicep muscle and two to repair the labrum -- have severely reduced his range of motion. For each practice and game, Hope must have Crawford cinch up the brace that restricts his range of motion and prevents further damage. That also means the slight 6-foot-1, 190-pounder who used to possess a wicked slap shot can no longer unleash one. He can only raise his right arm high enough and backward enough to get off a snap shot, or half-slap shot.
"It's frustrating,'' Hope said. "I'd like to have a bomb from the point, but I've learned to keep things simple. I just use the assets I have.''
Those are his skating, his hockey sense and his selflessness, all of which came in handy during a pivotal moment in the Aces' 5-2 win in Game 3 Friday.
The Aces led 3-1 six minutes into the third period when the Steelheads set sail 4-on-2 against Hope and defensive partner Corbin Schmidt. Idaho defenseman Travis Wight led the rush up the left wing, bearing down on Hope.
"I just saw four flying at us and I thought, 'Man,' Hope recalled.
When Wight fumbled the puck slightly as he approached the Aces' blue line, Hope decided to stop back-skating and make a bold move. He went to his knees to block the puck along the boards.
"I thought, 'I'm either gonna look real stupid, or I'm going to look like a pro,' '' he said.
It turned out to be the latter. Hope stripped Wight of the puck and passed ahead to Ryan MacMurchy, who scored on a 2-on-1 to give the Aces a 4-1 lead.
"It was an unconventional move, but maybe that's what made it most effective,'' Payne said.
Hope finished Game 3 with that assist and a plus-1 rating. Expect him to remain in the lineup tonight when the Aces and Steelheads play Game 4 here.
"It was kind of one of those (personnel) moves that was great,'' Payne said. "Joey's been great about (not playing) -- he wants to play as bad as anyone.
"He stayed positive and ready to play, and that's what allowed him to play so well. That depth is what it takes in a long playoff run.''
When the Aces skated off the ice at Qwest Arena and down the tunnel to their locker room, the first person to greet Hope and congratulate him was Wood, the man he replaced.
No ice time was available to the Aces on Saturday, so they relaxed and went out for a team dinner.
One day's rest won't heal Hope, and he knows it. And he's OK with that. He's a hockey player and these are the playoffs, so he deals with pain.
Soon enough there will be plenty of time for his body to repair itself.
The rest of us call it summer.
This column is the opinion of Daily News reporter Doyle Woody. He can be reached at dwoody@adn.com
ALASKA ACES
at
IDAHO STEELHEADS
WHEN: Game 4 ECHL National Conference Finals, tonight, 5:10 ADT.
WHERE: Qwest Arena (cap. 5,006), Boise, Idaho.
RADIO: Live AM-750 KFQD.
TV: Live, GCI Cable Channel 1.
TRENDS: The road team has won all three games in the best-of-7 series, which Idaho leads 2-1.
WHO'S HOT: For a change, the Aces' power-play units, which struck for three goals on Friday. The power play is heating up -- the Aces have scored man-advantage goals in four of the last five games.
WHO'S NOT: Aces center Kimbi Daniels, who led the team in scoring during the regular season but has just one assist in the last five games after providing 11 points in the team's first eight playoff games.
