Bryan Bickell has played 391 career games in the National Hockey League, but No. 392 will be unlike any of the others.
“It almost feels like my first game again,” he said Tuesday. “It will be special. It will be emotional.”
Five months ago, Bickell was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Just like that, the Carolina Hurricanes forward had his hockey life put on hold. The only thing that mattered was his health, his family, learning to cope and deal with a disease with no cure.
But Bickell, 31, has responded well to MS treatments. He returned to hockey — first in practices with the Canes in January, then playing 10 games with the Charlotte Checkers, Carolina’s American Hockey League affiliate.