Here is Dave Bailey's story on UMaine women's hockey player Amy Van
Vuren, who is recovering from an injury she suffered in a game against
Colby in Orono.
 
By Dave Bailey
Maine Campus staff
 
        If you listen to Amy Van Vuren, she merely jinxed herself, thatms all.
        Until last Sunday, the forward for the University of Maine womenms
hockey team always took pride in her durability.
        "I think I actually jinxed myself because I said I never get hurt,"
Van Vuren said.
        But then she slipped and careened into the cornerboards with 12:06
remaining in the first period of Mainems 10-0 win over Colby, and Van
Vurenms world was suddenly rendered topsy-turvy.
        "I went [into the boards] headfirst and hit my neck and shoulder,"
said Van Vuren, whoms expected to miss at least two weeks of action. "I
felt it in my back. That's why they got the stretcher out."
        They got out more than just a stretcher.
        The neck stabilizer, the oxygen mask, the ambulance lights flashing
from the north end of the Alfond - all signs of a worst-case scenario.
        The game was held up for close to 25 minutes while medics carried Van
Vuren off the ice and into the hospital.
        With Van Vuren remaining motionless on the ice as the medics treated
her, a hush suddenly fell upon the 125 fans in attendance as they
feared the worst.
        Luckily for Van Vuren, that wasn't the case.
        After being taken to the hospital, the freshman was diagnosed with a
separated shoulder and subsequently released in just a few hours.
        But the fans weren't the only ones who feared the worst upon first
impact.
        "The first thing I did when I fell was move my toes," said Van Vuren,
a sling rendering her right arm useless as she spoke. "I moved my toes
right away and went, Oh!"
        The rest of her wouldnmt budge, however, because the medics wouldnmt
allow her to move.
        One might wonder just what was spinning through Van Vuren's head at
this point. Paralysis? A sudden end to a collegiate hockey career that
had barely begun?
        "Nothing, really," Van Vuren said simply.
        "I felt I was in good hands. I had nothing to worry about."
        Not that she was exactly overjoyed about making a side trip to the
hospital while her teammates were still playing hockey.
        "I was dissapointed I was going to the hospital because that meant,
Oh, no! I'm going to be injured!'" Van Vuren said.
        This marks the second board-crash scare to inflict the Black Bears
this season. On Dec. 9 against Bowdoin star forward Raffi Wolf received
a similarly rude introduction to the Alfondms cornerboards and was
treated for a concussion.
        Will Van Vurenms injury affect her style of play in any way?
        "Imve got to go into the corners, but I think Imm going to follow
closer to the corners next time," Van Vuren said.
        While there is a possiblity of her missing the remainder of the
season, the resident of Milford, Mich., is dogged in her attempt to
return to action before the season ends.
        "Imm sure Imll be back before the season is over," she said with a
smile. "Imm very determined."
        On Tap: While Van Vuren nurses her wounds on the sidelines, her
teammates will take on sixth-ranked Dartmouth College Friday and
Saturday night at the Alfond.
        Maine is 9-11-1 overall, 4-11-1 in ECAC play, while Dartmouth is
10-6-4, 9-5-4.
        The Black Bears will hope that a pair of victories will move a them
above 10th place in the 14-team ECAC.
        Says Black Bear chieftain Rick Filighera, a champion of the "one game
at a time" mantra: "The most important game we play this season is
Friday."