What happened to Tony Granato during a penalty-killing shift has left the gifted hockey player killing time.
Granato, Wisconsin`s No. 1 center, was winging his way through another season until a third-period collision Jan. 31 against Minnesota. Granato was trying to calm a rolling puck with his hand when he was slammed him into the boards.
Granato said he heard a crack. It wasn`t his stick that had broken. It was his collarbone. Granato will be out of the lineup for five to six weeks, unable to lead Wisconsin in its drive for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association title.
Sure, Granato is disappointed. He was the leading scorer for the fourth-ranked Badgers. Last week, he had a chance to take his team to the top of the WCHA standings. Now he has a pain in the neck.
He`ll miss the first two rounds of the WCHA playoffs Feb. 28-March 1 and March 7-8. The WCHA championship series is March 14-15. If Wisconsin gets there, that would be the earliest Granato could return. The NCAA quarterfinals are March 22-24.
”I didn`t really think about it until the next day when I should have been getting ready for the game,” said Granato, a former Downers Grove North player. ”I felt kind of helpless.”
There is encouraging news. Teammate Jimmy Johannson suffered an identical injury three weeks ago and is back skating but not playing. Granato said he and Johannson will work out together.
This is the first time Granato has been sidelined for an extended period. Still, it`s only a temporary setback. Granato is suffering from a broken bone, not a broken dream.
”It should be no problem,” Granato said. ”Once it heals up, I`ll be back to normal, 100 percent.”
He could still help Wisconsin get to the NCAA finals. He could still play on the 1988 United States Olympic team. He could still play in the National Hockey League.
Granato is one of the lucky ones. He is living a young hockey player`s dream. The 5-foot-10-inch, 175-pound junior led the Badgers last season with 33 goals and 34 assists in 42 games.
Granato may be another Ed Olczyk, a local boy who made good. Olczyk, a 19-year-old from Palos Heights, played on the 1984 Olympic team and now is a member of the Black Hawks. Barring another injury, illness or an irresistible pro contract, Granato is expected to make the 1988 Olympic team.
”We would certainly like to see him be around for the Olympics,” said Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer, a member of the Olympic coaching staff.
Granato was drafted by the New York Rangers in 1982.
”You know with pro sports, it`s a money situation,” Sauer said. ”If they came in with enough money, he`d be receptive to what they have to offer. But he`s had success at Wisconsin. When we recruited him, it was to play for us, and then you go to the Olympics and then pro hockey. They are the type of players we have to keep to have a chance in the Olympics.
”He has potential to play in the NHL. He`s a Denis Savard type of player, an exciting-type player. If the opportunity arose to play on the Olympic team, he`d jump on it.”
”I`d like to,” Granato said. ”I really enjoy the international style of hockey, the big rinks. Playing for your country, that would be great if it worked out that way.
”I`d like to play for the Olympic team and then play for the Rangers. I haven`t really talked to them. I don`t know what their plans are for me.”
Granato centered the No. 1 line for the U.S. team that played in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships last year in Czechoslovakia. Sauer was an assistant for the U.S. team, which placed fourth out of eight teams.
”Tony has proven he can play with the world-class level,” Sauer said.
”The big ice surface (210 feet by 100 feet) is conducive to his game.
”He`s very clever with the puck. He can score goals. He`s got the skills you can`t teach. He has a good shot, a quick shot. He can put the puck where you want it to go.”
That was true when Granato played for Downers Grove North High School. After two years there, Granato transferred to Northwood Prep School in Lake Placid, N.Y., for two seasons.
”When he first came here, he had been the best player on every team he played on,” Sauer said. ”He just took the puck and beat everybody on the ice and scored. His attitude was if he didn`t do it, no one else could. He has learned to use his teammates, interact with his teammates.”
”It`s tough to adjust to this level of hockey,” Granato said. ”When you come in as a freshman, they guide you a lot. It takes time. You`ve got to be at your best all the time. You can`t let up for a minute or somebody will burn you.”
Wisconsin is 22-10 overall and 20-8 in the WCHA, putting the Badgers third behind Denver (21-7) and Minnesota-Duluth (20-7-1). Granato expected the Badgers to have a good season.
”We had a lot of returning players, and we only brought in a couple freshmen,” Granato said. ”We felt we were in the best shape of any WCHA team as far as returning players. We thought we`d be in the race the whole way, and we have been.
”I always dreamed about playing college hockey and maybe professional someday. Every player dreams it that way. I`m just glad it worked out.”
