\u201cI knew it wasn\u2019t good, let\u2019s put it that way,\u201d McCann\u2019s dad said.<\/p>\n
The trip was supposed to be a celebration of sacrifices Matt and his wife, Erin, had made on their son\u2019s behalf. Matt owned a third-generation family construction and gravel company in Stratford, Ontario \u2013 95 miles southwest of Toronto \u2013 and used to flood part of their sprawling farm property to use as a rink, eventually installing boards. For warmer months, he built a shooting range with nets and targets on an asphalt path alongside the property\u2019s home. The family was advised that shooting pucks on asphalt strengthened wrists. Another farm they lived on had a horse-manure bunker that was cleaned so McCann could shoot at the cinder-block walls.\u202f<\/p>\n
But during their car ride home after the mid-December Kings game, his dad didn\u2019t speak much, just letting McCann spell things out about his injury and the rehab ahead. \u201cHe was very disappointed,\u201d his father said. \u201cHe said, \u2018Dad, I just can\u2019t catch a break.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
They traveled to Utah together nonetheless, with McCann\u2019s father telling his son to stay positive. He\u2019d watched McCann rehab from surgery a couple of weeks at his retirement home in Florida last spring and knew how committed \u2013 and frustrated — he was about overcoming his quad issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just said that it wasn\u2019t healing,\u201d his father said. \u201cAnd he’s impatient, right? He gets that from his dad. He gets impatient and gets out there and, you know, okay\u2026let’s do something. Let’s try and make this better. And he just he couldn’t get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was rock bottom. McCann had done the surgery to deliver for his team the fourth year of a five-year deal. But the fits and starts weighed on him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants to play,\u201d his father said. \u201cHe doesn’t want to sit around. He doesn’t want to let anybody down. He doesn’t want to let the team down. He wants to be there. You know, he loves the guys. He loves playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCann had a hard time dealing with his father coming out to see him and then being unable to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was tough,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n
But McCann made it back quicker than he\u2019d initially anticipated, though the 18-day layoff felt like an eternity. This time, he truly was back. McCann scored in his second game, then again in his third and hasn\u2019t really stopped since.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy for him,\u201d Kraken coach Lane Lambert said Monday. \u201cI\u2019m happy with the way he\u2019s playing. I\u2019ve talked about it over the last little while how smart he is. How poised he is. And it looks to me like he\u2019s feeling good. And that\u2019s the most important thing.\u201d <\/p>\n
As an example of McCann\u2019s intelligence and poise, Lambert mentioned a \u201csmall play\u201d he made against Vegas late in Saturday night\u2019s game with the Kraken holding a one-goal lead and the Golden Knights pressing deep in their defensive zone.
\u201cHe got the puck in our zone and instead of just flipping it out, he had the presence of mind and the poise to turn and take a look, hit Jordan Eberle wide and off we go playing in the offensive zone,\u201d Lambert said. \u201cInstead of just flipping it out and then they\u2019re coming right back at us. These are the kinds of things that make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, McCann has long sought intellectual advantages on the ice. He\u2019d previously employed onetime Colorado Avalanche forward Joey Hishon, who he knew from his Stratford hometown, to tutor him in the finer details of hockey so he could gain a decision-making advantage on what to do with the puck.<\/p>\n
But staying on the ice is a key part of using those tactics.<\/p>\n
McCann credits the Kraken medical staff for being \u201cvery patient\u2019 and sticking by him with each false start. And helping get him to where he finally needed to be post-surgery. If anything, his ordeal has reaffirmed his commitment to building up those smaller muscle groups he believes not only hampered his previous season, but his comeback attempts this campaign as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you get older \u2013 and a lot of guys will probably tell you this \u2013 your training changes,\u201d McCann said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about building muscle mass. It\u2019s more about making you stronger. The little muscles we were talking about and injury prevention.\u201d<\/p>\n
And with each goal McCann pops behind an opposing netminder, memories of what it took to get here start to fade just a little quicker. At the same time, the solace of knowing he did the right thing becomes more prominent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was worth it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI knew it wasn\u2019t good, let\u2019s put it that way,\u201d McCann\u2019s dad said. The trip was supposed to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-161622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}