ST. LOUIS — The hockey gods can be pretty tough on young players.
Curtis McKenzie lost out on the final spot coming out of training camp to rookie Mattias Janmark, but then was called up three games into the season and felt he had another chance to prove he belonged back in the NHL.
In his first game back, McKenzie was the victim of a violent boarding penalty by Tampa Bay's Nikita Nesterov, and then sat on IR for the next month. Nesterov was ejected from the game and received a two-game suspension. That didn't help McKenzie, as he had to rehab an injured hip and then was sent back to the AHL to start all over again.