Wedgewood: ‘My leg was a steel pipe, I couldn’t settle it down’

When Stars goaltender Scott Wedgewood went down on the ice Thursday against the Florida Panthers, the situation looked bad. 

As Wedgewood grabbed onto his lower back and then laid motionless while being moved onto a stretcher, everybody watching feared for the worst. That included Wedgewood himself. 

“At first, I was just ‘oh, it’s spasming, it’s a cramp, I’ll roll over to get up.’ Then as I tried to get up, nothing moved,” he said. “Then they start saying stretcher, and wiggle your toes, can you feel my hands? Then you start thinking ‘did I do something more?’ Then they call stretcher and that put a little more fear in you, not knowing.” 

“I have never felt anything like that. But obviously, better safe than sorry and go through the right protocol,” he added. 

The play was bizarre in many ways. 

First, Wedgewood did not look to be in any discomfort until the last second when he grabbed his back. Second, he didn’t look to be twisted into any uncomfortable position due to how loose he wears his pants and chest protector. But Wedgewood said he was ‘in a pretty big pretzel’ underneath his pads. 

And finally, once the injury occurred, he was unable to control his muscles, as his leg was completely locked up until later in the evening. 

“Something weird. It just kind of locked. Best way to describe it would be a pretty nasty spasm, I guess,” he said. “I have had the odd time when you get a cramp in an overreach. It’s the end of the play, just trying to hold position. There was a loose puck and my body had nowhere to go. Locked up. Rolled over, tried to sit up and my leg was a steel pipe, I couldn’t settle it down.”

“Laid on my back until about the five-minute mark of the third,” he added. “Few steroids to settle the body down and then was able to stand up. Little bit of a hunchback feeling for a little bit after the game and on the plane. But woke up the next day feeling pretty good.” 

In every way, Wedgewood and the Stars dodged a bullet. 

Wedgewood was able to attend practice and go through some rehab on Friday and skated Saturday before an optional morning skate. He is expected to back up for Jake Oettinger Saturday against the New York Islanders and Dallas likely will not need to make any further roster moves in between the pipes. 

“Honestly, they were like ‘you can either wake up feeling great or wake up feeling like you are 100 years old,'" he said. "Got out of bed, felt good. Came in yesterday, got some treatment, moved around, did some pool workout stuff, and really had no issues. Skated today, had no issues, took some shots, and moved around. Just made sure there were no lingering effects.”