New Canaan's Max Pacioretty: Hockey Injury Won't Keep Him From Olympics

NEW CANAAN, Conn. -- Montreal Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty, a New Canaan native, said he's heading Sunday for the Olympics in Sochi even though he left an NHL game Saturday night with an injury, according to NHL.com.

Max Pacioretty, a 25-year-old New Canaan native, heads Sunday for Sochi to join his U.S. Olympic hockey teammates.
Photo Credit: *USA Hockey*

Daily Voice

02/09/2014 5:30 a.m.

Pacioretty, 25, was checked into the goal post with 7:30 remaining in the first period in the game Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C.

After the game, which Montreal won, 4-1, Pacioretty said he left the game as a precaution. "I'm OK. I'm going to Sochi," he told NHL.com.

Pacioretty is leaving Sunday for Sochi to join the U.S. Olympic team, which opens play Thursday against Slovakia.

He will be joined on the U.S. Olympic hockey team by two other men with Connecticut ties: Kevin Shattenkirk of Greenwich and Jonathan Quick of Milford.

The former New Canaan High School hockey player has a $27 million contract with the Montreal Canadiens that runs through the 2018-19 season. In 2012, the NHL gave him The Masterton Trophy, which goes to the player who "best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey."

In the 2010-11 season, he nearly had his career cut short after suffering a severe concussion and broken vertebrae in his back after a check by Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins. The hit on Montreal's home ice infamously prompted hundreds of Canadiens fans to call Montreal police demanding the arrest of the Bruins defenseman. No arrest was made.

Read the full story at the NHL website.

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