Share this Story: With wife's chemotherapy over, Craig Anderson returns to Senators with new outlook
With wife's chemotherapy over, Craig Anderson returns to Senators with new outlook
Photo by Postmedia
SUNRISE, FLA.
SUNRISE, Fla. — Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson has gained a fresh outlook on life — and hockey — while being by the side of his wife Nicholle.
"It makes you realize how lucky and fortunate we are to play a game we love," said Anderson, who has been away from the team for the past eight weeks, watching his wife go through extended radiation and chemotherapy treatments for a rare throat cancer.
"Win or lose, it's a hockey game, there's more to life. You learn that when you have kids, but when you go through something this traumatic and difficult, hockey is a job. I'm passionate about it, but at the end of the day, hockey will go on, whether I'm in it or not.
"You don't know how much time you have with someone. Life is precious."
Anderson is optimistic that there will be no setbacks.
"The radiation treatment is over, she's recovering from that," he said. "The chemotherapy has a very delayed effect to it. We knew it was going to be a tough battle, especially the last two weeks, the last few days of radiation and the 10-15 days after that. We're in that fight right now. Hopefully, things are going in the right direction."
Nicholle Anderson has been undergoing her treatments at a hospital in New York and he was with her during that time.
Before joining the Senators in Florida on Monday, Anderson had kick-started his return by working with goaltending coach Pierre Groulx in New Jersey.
While he's now back working out with the team, he's under no illusions that he can return to game action quickly. His last game was an 8-5 loss to Pittsburgh on Dec. 5 and he says the situation is akin to going through training camp all over again.
Mike Condon will make his 25th consecutive appearance in goal on Tuesday — and his 15th straight start — when the Senators face the Florida Panthers. Andrew Hammond will serve as the backup.
"Timing is everything," Anderson said. "I skated for a few days before coming in here, but nothing replaces actual shots. It's going to be a work in progress. I have to find a way to battle through it and get my game as quickly as possible."
Anderson says he would be short-changing his teammates if he attempted to return too soon. Neither Anderson nor coach Guy Boucher were willing to put a timetable on his return, but it figures to be at least two-to-three weeks before he'll think about getting into a game.
While watching from afar, Anderson has been ecstatic at what he has seen from his teammates, including Condon.
"We've found ways to keep getting points, winning games," he said. "(Condon) has stepped up and been great for us and carried the load.
"The coach has a system in place and the goalie is a piece of the puzzle, he's part of the whole team. If you lose the goalie, the team shouldn't change dramatically. Credit to (Condon), credit to everyone."
Boucher says it was uplifting for the players and coaching staff to see Anderson on the ice, suggesting he's part of the "soul" of the team. That doesn't mean he's going to rush him back.
"On the moral side of everything, it's great to have him around, but at the same time, we're very well aware that it's going to take time for him to get his shape back," said Boucher. "Right now, he's just getting whipped by the goalie coach and it's going to take a few days just to get his timing back and then after that to get to real game shape."
Boucher says he likely won't even dress Anderson as a backup until he believes he's ready to play.
Defenceman Mark Borowiecki says seeing Anderson in the dressing room "made all of us smile" as the players met here following the all-star break.
"Andy has been a great teammate and a great friend for myself and for a lot of other people on this team," Borowiecki said. "We've been with him 100% with what their family has been going through, but just to have him around again is really awesome."
The story of the Andersons has been the talk of much of the hockey world this season.
In late October, with the Senators on a trip to western Canada, Anderson was given clearance to leave the team to be with his wife for the first time.
But when Hammond suffered a groin injury on Oct. 28, leaving the net in the hands of unproven minor-league goaltenders Chris Driedger and Matt O'Connor, Anderson returned to the team on the urging of his wife. He posted a 37-save shutout over Edmonton in his comeback.
Anderson was in and out of the lineup throughout November, with then-newcomer Condon — acquired in a trade from Pittsburgh — filling in whenever Anderson needed to leave.
But since the Dec. 5 game against Pittsburgh, Anderson has stayed away from the team.
He acknowledges playing a different role for the past two months.
"When you're playing hockey, you're the one in the trenches, day in, day out," he said. "Where I've been standing, it's more less being a cheerleader, and she has been in the trenches. It's a different mental toughness. The hardest part is not being able to do anything. You just try to be there for mental stability and positive reinforcement and hope. At the end of day, hope is all you can really give."
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