Jun 3, 2008 8:40 pm US/Eastern
Former Pens Champ: Adrenaline Carries You Through
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
For Penguins fans, just watching the team battle through three overtime periods was exhausting enough.
Seeing the injured Ryan Malone and Sergei Gonchar playing through their pain made it clear that the Pens were not ready to give up.
While battling the exhaustion and injuries may be hard for those of us who don't take to the ice for a living to understand, former Penguin Troy Loney says it's all part of the job.
Loney, who was part of both the 1991 and 1992 Penguins Stanley Cup Championship teams, says he was impressed with the level of intensity that the current team kept up through their win in triple OT.
"Adrenaline does carry you through those moments because you just get so much stronger than you usually are, but so does the other team," Loney told KDKA's David Highfield. "So it does all balance out."
Dr. Edward Snell, the head team physician for the Pirates says after an overtime game like Monday night's the players will be hurting.
"Their muscles will ache, they will feel just so fatigued because they were so high for so long," Dr. Snell said.
But he did say that he believes the Pens have a distinct advantage now.
"The Penguins will have a better time. They will be more able to come back from this than Detroit will because we have younger people," said Dr. Snell. "Younger muscles recover faster than older muscles."
Meanwhile, Loney knows first-hand what it's like to play a hockey game with a broken nose like Ryan Malone did after taking a puck to the face.
"I broke my nose and played. It's just an uncomfortable pressure," he said. "It's hard for people to understand maybe that don't do that, but that's really what we did as hockey players… you break your nose and kind of go back out there again."
When the game lasts as long as Monday's game, both Loney and Dr. Snell say it's also important for the team to replenish their energy.
Loney says power bars were on hand when he played. And Dr. Snell says after 60 or 90 minutes of that kind of intense activity, the players definitely need sports drinks.
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