Laperriere: Flyers' Warrior Solid on Ice
(from the Courier-Post)
By Chuck Gormley
Courier-Post Staff
November 28, 2009 - No Flyers forward puts his body in front of vulcanized rubber more often than Ian Laperriere.
Twenty times this season, the Flyers' 35-year-old right wing has laid out to block shots, proving he is either too brave or too dumb to consider the consequences.
"The word 'warrior' gets tossed around a lot in sports," said Flyers longtime oral surgeon Guy Lanzi, "but Lappy is definitely one. He proved it today."
Lanzi should know. For the past 16 seasons he has stitched up hundreds of Flyers' mouths.
Friday afternoon, Lanzi was given one of his more difficult assignments when, with 2:10 remaining in the second period of the Flyers' 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, Laperriere braced himself for a Jason Pominville slap shot from the point.
Laperriere was standing about 10 feet in front of Pominville when he took a shot square in the mouth and skated off the ice with blood dripping behind him.
"I don't rate them," Lanzi said, "but this is as bad as I can remember. He lost four teeth. He had a big laceration inside and outside his mouth. His lip was totally split. He did great. He's a tough guy."
Laperriere spent the entire second period getting stitched up -- Lanzi estimated anywhere from 50 to 100 sutures -- and returned wearing a protective cage for the start of the third period.
"We knew right away he would try to be back," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said. "He would have been back quicker if it wasn't for the doctors being so slow."
"I think he shocked his teammates," said Flyers coach John Stevens. "I think they were a little worried about him. But there was no question in his mind. It tells you a lot about him. He's a ferocious warrior that seems to want to fight through anything to keep playing. It was a pretty impressive effort by him."
After the game, his mouth filled with gauze pads, Laperriere could not talk to reporters but boarded the team's flight to Atlanta, where he's expected to play tonight against the Thrashers.
The same is not as certain for callup forward Jared Ross, who was checked head-first into the boards by Partrick Kaleta and did not return.
Holmgren said Ross was feeling better after the game and would make the trip to Atlanta, but that Jonathon Kalinski would be recalled from the Adirondack Phantoms. In 15 games with the Phantoms, Kalinski has one goal and three assists.
Reach Chuck Gormley at cgormley@courierpostonline.com