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St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:46 pm
by Mellanby_equals_grit
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports ... enDocument
St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by September
BY JEREMY RUTHERFORD
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Tuesday, Jun. 02 2009
Eric Brewer says the words "career threatening" have never entered his
vocabulary.

Nearly six months after his first back surgery, and six weeks since a second
procedure, Brewer believes he'll return as a captain and defensman for the
Blues. In fact, he insists he'll be ready for the start of training camp in
September.

"I'm very confident," Brewer said. "You surround yourself with people that give
you the advice you need, you believe in them and away you go. You set some
goals and it's amazing how many things will work. I fully plan to start in
September and don't have any plans not to. If the worse case happens and I
wasn't (able), then I'll deal with that then."

While Brewer remains optimistic, he admits that he's still waiting for proper
feeling to return to his right leg and foot. He hasn't skated since January and
only recently was given the go-ahead to begin rehabbing again, following his
second operation in mid-April.

"I've still got some issues in my foot and down the outer part of my right leg
... like pins and needles or an electric-type feel," Brewer said.

In mid-December, almost overnight, Brewer's right leg became immobile, forcing
the club's leader in ice time out of the lineup. A diagnosis discovered a
herniated disk, affecting Brewer's sciatic nerve, which starts in the lower
back and runs through the hip and down the lower limbs.

"Sciatica" is the term for the pain caused by the compression of the spinal
nerves, typically from wear and tear of the lower spine, and tends to lead to
more leg pain than back pain.

Brewer, who had never experienced such symptoms, had surgery Dec. 19 in St.
Louis to repair the disk and allow the sciatic nerve to regenerate.

After six weeks, Brewer returned to off-ice workouts and attempted some light
skating, but there was no progress, so the workouts were halted.

"I had some issues," Brewer said. "We tried a series of non-surgical methods to
see if it would work and it didn't."

He sat idle for weeks.

Then after the Blues were eliminated from the playoffs, the team announced that
Brewer had undergone a second back procedure in Los Angeles.

"I had some more fragment pieces pressing on the nerve, which was causing my
leg to not work properly," Brewer said. "They removed that and it's gotten a
little better. There's no pressure on it. But I still have some lasting effects
and it's still not where it needs to be."

Brewer hasn't been unable to lift anything of significant size for the past six
weeks.

"I don't pick up my (daughter Reese), I don't make dinner, I don't do anything
in the yard," Brewer said. "When we flew home (to Vancouver), the only thing
that I carried was my wallet, phone and iPod."

Brewer started rehab in Vancouver last week but noted, "I can't just go to the
gym and start lifting whatever. There's going to be a progression to that, too."

Blues President John Davidson wants Brewer to take his rehab slow, saying that
Brewer might have worked too hard following his first operation in December.

"You try to get back in the lineup ... you rush yourself and it doesn't help
you ... all of us have done it," Davidson said.

"I possibly could have been doing too much," Brewer countered, "but I've heard
about people who have re-injured themselves picking up a shoe off the ground,
or just basic functions of life, not doing something athletic. It's really
tough to say."

Either way, Davidson said that now Brewer is "following orders from the doctor
by the day. The leg with the sciatica issue is not 100 percent, but it's on
course. He does have time on his side."

The Blues report to training camp in mid-September and Davidson said, "We
expect him to be 100 percent. Honest to goodness, if you looked at our board on
the wall, with the depth chart, he's in there. That's what we're being told and
that's the route we're going."

Brewer, who has two years remaining on a four-year, $17 million contract, says
he will be back in a Blues uniform.

"There's never been the thought that I'm never going to play again," he said.
"I never had one doctor or one therapist tell me anything other than you'll be
playing. It's been a little bit longer than I would have liked, but that's
never been an issue. I've always been told, and I continue to be told, that
I'll be fine and I'll be playing hockey."

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:19 pm
by JPonder94
I hate this guy as much as the next Blues fan, but I am pulling for him. We are stuck with his contract so let's hope he can make a full recovery and play well. Who knows, maybe his stiff back was the cause of his stiff play.

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:27 pm
by stlbluz
affecting Brewer's sciatic nerve
I can tell you from experience that anything dealing with the sciatic nerve is painful.

I do agree with what you said though, if we've got to pay him he might as well play.

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:47 am
by JWatt (formerly PMS)
ProngerBlues44 wrote:I hate this guy as much as the next Blues fan, but I am pulling for him. We are stuck with his contract so let's hope he can make a full recovery and play well. Who knows, maybe his stiff back was the cause of his stiff play.
That's what I said after finding out about the shoulder injury.

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 8:02 am
by Mellanby_equals_grit
I hope he's done for.. The guy is never going to be any good.

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 10:20 am
by Kreegz2
Mellanby_equals_grit wrote:I hope he's done for.. The guy is never going to be any good.
:plusplus:

I jumped for joy when I first found out he was going to be out the rest of the season.

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 11:56 am
by section319
Yeah, our defense was much better without him this year. :roll:

I dislike him as much as everyone else, but it is hard to deny that having him play instead of Woywitka would have been an improvement.

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 12:26 pm
by Mellanby_equals_grit
section319 wrote:Yeah, our defense was much better without him this year. :roll:

I dislike him as much as everyone else, but it is hard to deny that having him play instead of Woywitka would have been an improvement.
Don't think anyone is arguing for bringing Woywitka back or that he is better.. I'm sure we're all in agreement our D should improve next season.. Neither of those guys being in the lineup is the answer for that.

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 6:51 am
by Storm13
section319 wrote:Yeah, our defense was much better without him this year. :roll:

I dislike him as much as everyone else, but it is hard to deny that having him play instead of Woywitka would have been an improvement.
Have you SEEN Brewer play?

Ok, all seriousness aside, if Brewer played Woywitka minutes and assignments, I'd be all for that. Brewer is NOT better than Coliacovo, McKee, or even Jackman, but THOSE are the assignments that he'd be taking.

Everyone would probably be happy to have Brewer be our 5th or 6th defenseman instead of Weaver, or Woywitka, but having him be the top guy getting 25+ minutes a night is stupid.

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:06 am
by kodos
Does anyone have our record last year with and without him in the lineup?

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:37 am
by section319
Storm13 wrote:
section319 wrote:Yeah, our defense was much better without him this year. :roll:

I dislike him as much as everyone else, but it is hard to deny that having him play instead of Woywitka would have been an improvement.
Have you SEEN Brewer play?

Ok, all seriousness aside, if Brewer played Woywitka minutes and assignments, I'd be all for that. Brewer is NOT better than Coliacovo, McKee, or even Jackman, but THOSE are the assignments that he'd be taking.

Everyone would probably be happy to have Brewer be our 5th or 6th defenseman instead of Weaver, or Woywitka, but having him be the top guy getting 25+ minutes a night is stupid.

I'd actually rather have Weaver playing that Brewer and I think it is hard to say that Jackman and Mckee are better. Mckee would be a better argument than Jackman but I don't know.

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:39 am
by section319
kodos wrote:Does anyone have our record last year with and without him in the lineup?

Yeah, our awesome second half of the season was because brewer was out. Our defense was abysmal for the most part even during our amazing run to the end of the season, it was all about Mason not our defense being better without brewer.

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 11:17 am
by kodos
I know our amazing finish was at least 50% because of Mason... but still... it was almost timed perfectly. The second he came out the team took off.

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 11:19 am
by JPonder94
kodos wrote:Does anyone have our record last year with and without him in the lineup?
14-13-3 with Brewer
27-18-7 without Brewer

The biggest difference though was when Legace left - 21-7-5

I wrote something about this when the season ended so I luckily had the stats in front of me

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 11:46 am
by not_a_wings_fan
So what I am gathering from that article is all someone has to do is kick him in the lower back or rear-end his car at the grocery store and Brewer is done in St. Louis?

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:04 pm
by Mellanby_equals_grit
not_a_wings_fan wrote:So what I am gathering from that article is all someone has to do is kick him in the lower back or rear-end his car at the grocery store and Brewer is done in St. Louis?
Who wants to take one for the team?

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:36 pm
by WaukeeBlues
Mellanby_equals_grit wrote:
not_a_wings_fan wrote:So what I am gathering from that article is all someone has to do is kick him in the lower back or rear-end his car at the grocery store and Brewer is done in St. Louis?
Who wants to take one for the team?
What's Jeff Finley up to these days?

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:38 pm
by not_a_wings_fan
Mellanby_equals_grit wrote:
not_a_wings_fan wrote:So what I am gathering from that article is all someone has to do is kick him in the lower back or rear-end his car at the grocery store and Brewer is done in St. Louis?
Who wants to take one for the team?
Alexi Gusarov... he already did it to Modano and I think he still owes the team a favor for what he was payed by the team.

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:55 pm
by Mellanby_equals_grit
not_a_wings_fan wrote:
Mellanby_equals_grit wrote:
not_a_wings_fan wrote:So what I am gathering from that article is all someone has to do is kick him in the lower back or rear-end his car at the grocery store and Brewer is done in St. Louis?
Who wants to take one for the team?
Alexi Gusarov... he already did it to Modano and I think he still owes the team a favor for what he was payed by the team.

I'd like to keep our ties to "the goose" severed.

Re: St. Louis Blues' Eric Brewer expects to be ready by camp

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 1:13 pm
by not_a_wings_fan
Mellanby_equals_grit wrote:
not_a_wings_fan wrote:
Mellanby_equals_grit wrote:
not_a_wings_fan wrote:So what I am gathering from that article is all someone has to do is kick him in the lower back or rear-end his car at the grocery store and Brewer is done in St. Louis?
Who wants to take one for the team?
Alexi Gusarov... he already did it to Modano and I think he still owes the team a favor for what he was payed by the team.

I'd like to keep our ties to "the goose" severed.
K, I'll get Mike Danton to hire someone to do it.

:okman: