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Walker will show anyone the finger

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 12, 2009

Updated: 07/12/2009 12:11 am

TAMPA - As new Lightning defenseman Matt Walker drives around the streets of Chicago this summer, he has no choice but to display his finger to his fellow drivers.

Mind you, it has nothing to do with Walker being cut off as he pulls out of the mall parking lot.

It's more about showing off what has to be considered an ultimate hockey postseason battle scar. And the tale of Walker's broken left middle finger, suffered in the first round of the playoffs, has taken on the type of lore that can lead to legend.

"It's kind of funny because as players you hear all the time about guys dealing with pain in their knees or their shoulders and what they go through," said Walker, who signed a four-year contract with the Lightning on July 1 after spending last season with Chicago. "But this, it just happened to get caught on tape and it was all over YouTube, and then there was the 'No Guts, No Glory'" (segment) on TSN television in Canada.

Walker's injury occurred at the 14:50 mark of the first period of Game 5 against Calgary when a shot from Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf was blocked by Walker's left hand. When things went numb, he knew something wasn't exactly right.

By the time he got to the bench, his thoughts were confirmed.

"I kind of shook my fingers on my way to the bench and nothing was moving," Walker said. "Then as I was taking off my glove, it kind of got hung up on my finger and wouldn't come off right away.

"I finally get the glove off and I look down at my finger and it looks like a candy cane."

A freeze-framed shot of Walker with his glove removed at the bench shows two women behind the glass looking in horror at the site of the crooked digit on Walker's hand. But the worst was still to come for Walker when he went down the hallway, where the team doctor took a look at the finger and, thinking it was dislocated, pulled it back into place.

Walker made a couple of fists, felt good, headed back to the bench and told Coach Joel Quenneville he was ready for his next shift. But when he gripped his stick, it became clear the pain was not from just a dislocation, but from a fracture.

"At first, I was mad. I didn't want to have to deal with that. It wasn't what I wanted to happen," Walker said. "I mean, it was the playoffs - this is what we play for."

The 6-foot-3 blue-liner wasn't going to let a finger get in the way of his chase for the Stanley Cup. So after a quick X-ray, a couple of shots to freeze the area and some tape, he was back on the bench for the rest of the game.

It continued like that for another month as the Blackhawks kept winning and playing before finally being eliminated May 27 by Detroit in the Western Conference finals. Before each game Walker endured a pair of needles - one for his middle knuckle, one for his lower knuckle - on each side of his finger to freeze the area to allow him to play, a painful process that became a bit of a show for his teammates.

"Guys used to gather around the trainer's room just to watch the display and watch the needles stick into his knuckles and fingers. ... It was pretty gross, but it was pretty inspiring," Chicago forward Patrick Sharp told TSN. "He showed everybody what it was like to play and compete in the playoffs."

Once the postseason ended, however, Walker was in surgery the next day to repair the extensive damage and clear the excess scar tissue, which he said started to reach down into the palm of his hand, created by playing for a month after breaking the finger. He now sports a titanium rod in the finger and six screws to hold it in place, and undergoes regular therapy to relearn how to bend the finger properly.

"I still have a few more weeks to go with it and the bone is actually still healing," Walker said.

""It's probably at about 90 percent right now, but I'll be ready when training camp comes around."

Reporter Erik Erlendsson can be reached at (813) 259-7835.

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