Jack Todd: Canadiens fans can relate to Brock Boeser’s bad injury luck

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When the news of Brock Boeser’s latest misfortune hit over the weekend, I was reminded of what my father used to say every time another piece of rusty farm machinery broke down:

“If I had any luck at all, it’d be bad luck.”

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It’s true of Boeser, the Canucks hard-luck winger, whose perpetually rotten luck has struck at the worst possible time, with a reported blood clot issue that was expected to keep him out of Vancouver’s Game 7 Monday night against the Edmonton Oilers.

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Since coming into the league in 2017, Boeser has had a pretty much unbroken string of catastrophes and outright tragedy that might have felled a lesser spirit. To the Canadiens faithful, Boeser’s misfortunes are reminiscent of

Saku Koivu’s career

, which was sailing along beautifully until he tore up a knee in Chicago early in the 1996-97 season, the first of a string of injuries, illness and sheer rotten luck that would last through most of the plucky captain’s career.

Boeser also shares some qualities with

Vancouver native Brendan Gallagher

. Both are considered the heart and soul of their team, both have endured a long string of hard-luck injuries. In Boeser’s case, a freak injury in his rookie season may have prevented him from winning the Calder Trophy. Boeser missed a hit on Cal Clutterbuck, went through an open gate and suffered a spinal injury that cost him the balance of the season.

Mercifully, reports suggest the blood clot that was slated to keep Boeser out of Game 7 isn’t life-threatening. (Nor is it related to the fact he’s vaccinated — clots are fairly common in hockey because of the pounding the legs take from 100-m.p.h. slapshots, among other things.)

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It’s a reminder, however, of the significant role luck plays in any sport, especially at playoff time. In the NBA, the New York Knicks this spring had as gutsy a playoff run as you will see, led by point guard Jalen Brunson. Player after player went down, but they hung in until the last quarter against the Indiana Pacers, when Brunson himself suffered a broken hand.

The Canucks, already missing star goaltender Thatcher Demko, must now find a way to win without Boeser, who has seven goals and five assists thus far in the playoffs. You wouldn’t want to write them off — they’ve been a resilient team under head coach Rick Tocchet. But a tough task just became a whole lot tougher without Boeser.

For fans of a rebuilding team like the Canadiens, the playoffs have been difficult viewing. The Leafs with all their offensive firepower couldn’t survive the first round; Boston couldn’t make it through the second round and the high-flying Colorado Avalanche (my pick to win it all) succumbed to the powerful Dallas Stars.

Point is, it ain’t easy to win a Stanley Cup. The team that prevails in the Vancouver-Edmonton tilt will be only halfway to the goal, with Dallas and either the Rangers or Florida standing in the way. You can do everything right but in the end you’re going to need a big assist from Lady Luck.

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Hanging Chad:

After he was handed a nine-game suspension for violating the CFL’s policy on gender-based violence, toxic Toronto quarterback Chad Kelly put out a statement that was a 10 out of 10 on the gag scale.

Kelly announced that

he was “withdrawing” from Argos camp

after his presence out of uniform at rookie camp was a scandal in itself. (The

same is true of the Alouettes’ Shawn Lemon

, who was handed a gambling-related suspension — but the gambling stance of the CFL and all other leagues is so hypocritical that I’m inclined to cut Lemon some slack.)

Kelly’s statement (most probably concocted by his agent and team and league PR officers acting together) fell back on the repugnant “this isn’t me” defence, which is now standard for miscreant athletes and celebrities.

“This isn’t me,” my sweet patootie. Kelly isn’t Scottie Scheffler, who had an unblemished public record until he decided that police orders don’t apply to star golfers. Kelly has an unbroken record of bad behaviour going back to high school. When football factories like the Clemson Tigers and Denver Broncos tell a talented quarterback to pack his bags, he’s toxic.

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Within 15 minutes of the moment when a female strength coach reported details of Kelly’s alleged sexual harassment to Argos’ staff, Kelly should have been an ex-Argo.

The CFL, unfortunately, never learns.

Laugh of the week:

Ross Atkins, GM of the Toronto Blue Jays, telling fans of the struggling team they need to be patient.

Atkins was named GM on Dec. 3, 2015.

Heroes:

Artemi Panarin, Brock Boeser, Juraj Slafkovsky, Kaiden Guhle, Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, Jim Otto, Jalen Brunson, Marie-Philip Poulin, Erin Ambrose, Aerin Frankel, Maggie Mac Neil, Penny Oleksiak &&&& last but not least, Summer McIntosh.

Zeros:

Harrison Butker, the goalie interference rule, the Toronto War Room, Chad Kelly, Pinball Clemons, John Murphy, Randy Ambrosie, Mark Shapiro, Ross Atkins, Bo Bichette, Bud Selig Jr., Claude Brochu, David Samson &&&& last but not least, Jeffrey Loria.

Now and forever.

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