Ice hockey youngster Marco Kasper was injured more severely than previously thought on his NHL debut. The lower body injury suffered in Sunday’s 5-2 win with the Detroit Red Wings at the Toronto Maple Leafs turned out to be a kneecap fracture. The 18-year-old will be out for at least six weeks. He not only missed the end of the season with Detroit, but also the World Championships in Tampere and Riga in May.
“Under the circumstances, I’m okay,” Kasper said in response to the diagnosis. “Obviously my knee hurts and it’s a shame I can’t finish the season and miss the World Cup.” Detroit has five games left in the regular season and little chance of reaching the postseason. Team boss Roger Bader sympathizes: “First and foremost, I feel sorry for Marco that he can’t finish the season following his great debut in the NHL. It’s a shame for the national team, of course.”
After Kasper was eliminated with Rögle in the quarterfinals of the Swedish league, the Red Wings immediately ordered him to North America. In his debut once morest Toronto, Kasper played around 50 minutes with a broken kneecap, as it turned out. “Looking back it’s a bit crazy. I felt pain during the game but I thought I’d have to push through and play the game to the end.” An operation is not necessary because nothing has shifted and it is not a comminuted fracture.
