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© St. Petersburg Times, published February 25, 2002
BRANDON -- Vinny Lecavalier's first test of his injured left ankle went poorly Sunday, as pain forced him to halt a prepractice skate after 10 minutes. He was unsure if he would resume his rehabilitation today.
Lecavalier worked on noncutting movements before the rest of the team took the ice, hoping to join a regular practice if the chipped bone in his ankle handled the strain. It did not, and he spent most of the morning conditioning off-ice and receiving ice and electrode therapy.
"I could push off a little, but when I turned it, it hurts, and it got sore," he said.
Lecavalier said soreness would determine if he attempts to skate again today.
"I'll see how it feels (today)," he said, "but I don't want to go on too quick, either. I don't want to make it worse."
"(Ankle injuries) are sometimes tricky," coach John Tortorella said. "Ankles are sometimes the worst thing you can have. ... So where he stands, I don't know."
Lecavalier's recovery is following a course eerily similar to that of Fredrik Modin, whose right wrist has failed to respond to treatment and two weeks in a cast. Originally diagnosed as a bone bruise, Modin's injury will be reassessed today by a specialist in Virginia.
"I thought it was going to be seven days or something," Lecavalier said. "I don't know."
WE'RE BACK: Olympians Pavel Kubina (Czech Republic) and Juha Ylonen (Finland) returned to practice and Kubina said he felt fresh despite a busy week in Salt Lake City.
"I had two days off and we only had four games in nine days, so I feel good -- ready to go," Kubina said.
WE'RE HERE: Wings Nikita Alexeev, Sheldon Keefe and Martin Cibak were recalled from minor-league Springfield and arrived in time for most of morning practice. Alexeev has three points and a minus-4 in 20 games with Tampa Bay this season. Keefe has three points and a minus-3 in 15 games, Cibak one point and a minus-2 in two games. The arrival of those three, Kubina and Ylonen allowed Tortorella to conduct a more normal practice, which included several minutes of scrimmaging.
"We're looking forward to playing a game," Tortorella said. "We've practiced now four days. We need to play a game. I wanted to play some scrimmage games since this mini-camp, but we did not have enough bodies."
The team had just 13 skaters Saturday.
ICED OLYMPIANS: Tuesday's game with Detroit at the Ice Palace has a lot of Olympic star power. Partly because the Red Wings had 11 players on Olympic rosters (Tampa Bay three), but mainly because it could feature a battle of Winter Games goaltenders in the Lightning's Nikolai Khabibulin (Russia) and Detroit's Dominik Hasek (Czech Republic).
Could. The gold medal-winning Canadians, Americans (silver) and Russians (bronze) had medal ceremony commitments in Salt Lake City until Sunday, so Kevin Weekes might start for Tampa Bay. Tortorella said he wouldn't decide until talking with Khabibulin on Tuesday.
The non-Olympian Red Wings have spent the week training in Orlando.