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Halifax Mooseheads captain Ryan Falkenham played with bone spurs in hips last season

Falkenham was once called 'kind of the perfect human' by NHL star Nathan MacKinnon (The Canadian Press)
Falkenham was once called 'kind of the perfect human' by NHL star Nathan MacKinnon (The Canadian Press)

There is something noble and concerning, simultaneously, about the news that Halifax Mooseheads captain Ryan Falkenham had to pull the curtain on his junior hockey days in order to have surgery to remove bone spurs from each hip.

Attention should be paid to how the 19-year-old Falkenham approached his puck answer to Sophie's Choice of playing out in the season in pain or abandon his team to have the surgeries and come back to a new, perhaps unfamiliar group as an overage nest season. The forward, one of the last on-ice links to Halifax's 2013 Memorial Cup title team was "given the option to continue playing with the injury or stop" but gritted his way through "knowing that it was going to be my last with the team." Making that sacrifice speaks well for Falkenham, and there's probably scores of teenagers who would arrive at the same conclusion to see a season through the end with their teammates.


From Kristen Lipscombe (@KrisLipscombe):

“It’s tough,” Falkenham said Tuesday evening, shortly after the Mooseheads announced his major junior days are done. “At the same time, I knew this was happening since October, so I’ve been thinking about it all year, and I was just happy to be able to play for this year, and have a great year.” (Metro Halifax)

To reiterate, the notion of having the rest of a season for its own sake, and then that would be it, has a certain appeal. Watchable sports movies have been made from less. That shows how willing junior players are to sacrifice for their team.

It also shows, and we all need a reminder of this once in a while, what the game takes, especially with the overuse that's part of being a CHL player. alkenham was a waiting-in-the-wings energy player on those '13 Mooseheads, who was anticipated to be set to step into a lead role once Jonathan Drouin and Nathan MacKinnon, et al., moved on to bigger and brighter things. Instead, due to "genetics sped up by playing hockey," he lost a lot of 2013-14 to hip surgery before returning last season.   

it seems like an odd QMJHL denouement for Falkenham, whom MacKinnon once called "kind of the perfect human."  If his recovery works out, a Canadian university team is going to have a fine recruit.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @naitSAYger.