Carey Price is doing something tonight that supersedes anything he’s ever accomplished.
He’s playing in an NHL game while he’s in recovery from substance abuse.
It doesn’t matter what the substance was. What matters? A completely different person is wearing # 31 tonight even though his name is on the back of that Habs jersey.
Carey Price is back for MTL tonight. He deserves an enormous amount of respect. What he has done for his family, himself, and millions who struggle with addiction is a minor miracle in today's world. Truly. 👊
— Dean Blundell🇨🇦 (@ItsDeanBlundell) April 15, 2022
It’ll be comforting and familiar for fans to see Price in goal. But that won’t be the same guy fans watched for the past 15 years.
Coach Martin St. Louis chatting with Carey Price at #Habs morning skate in Brossard. All signs point to goalie making his season debut tonight at Bell Centre vs Islanders #HabsIO pic.twitter.com/5PVHpapzUC
— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) April 15, 2022
When you get clean, you go through this reset – a metamorphosis that literally changes who you are, depending on the person. Old thought patterns and perceptions give way to new ways to think and live. There’s a gratefulness people in recovery feel as they ‘get’ the journey that becomes medicine and changes who you are and what’s essential to you. Your wants fall away as needs become wants. What used to be important to you shifts to the essential and we become happier with less.
One last chat with goaltending coach Eric Raymond and a bit of stretching. Carey Price now exits. The first goalie off at the morning skate, the starter tonight vs. the Isles. pic.twitter.com/kKogdNIwB0
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) April 15, 2022
When Carey steps onto the ice tonight he’s taking the last 7 months with him. Not just the skills and tools developed in rehab and subsequent months of therapy. He’s taking the weight of his very public decision with him too.
Vulnerability.
Embarrassment
Hope.
Grace.
Community.
Love.
Fear.
Joy.
Carey is going to feel all of these things tonight as most people do who re-enter the world after taking a knee for very important personal reasons.
Carey is me. Carey is you. Carey is human. Carey is a good man and his journey is a victory for himself, his family, and anyone who struggles to find joy and hope after ADMITTING they need help.
What Carey is doing tonight has nothing to do with hockey and everything to do with who Carey Price has always been for others, but he’s doing this for himself and I think it’s just about the most powerful example of hope you’ll ever see.
just met carey price and i will never shut up about it :,)❤️ pic.twitter.com/AkND0CEqEh
— noelani ☻ (@secretlifecfme) April 9, 2022
DB
Dean Blundell
Dean Blundell is a Canadian radio personality. Best known as a longtime morning host on CFNY-FM (The Edge) in Toronto, Ontario. In 2015 he was named the new morning host on sports radio station CJCL (Sportsnet 590 The Fan). Dean started his career in radio in 2001 and for nearly 20 years been entertaining the radio audience. Dean’s newest venture is the launch of his site and podcast which is gaining tremendous momentum across North America.
