Rich Hofmann: Briere looks like himself in first game back

THE HOCKEY player was two-thirds of the way through his first game since suffering a concussion on Jan. 21, and he still appeared to be feeling his way. But the hockey player is also a father, and Danny Briere knew that his place after the second period was to stand at the end of the bench and open the gate and greet his son, Cameron, and the other participants in a shootout competition.

Actually, by then, Briere said he felt OK.

"The first period, it was tough a little bit to get going, the timing," he said. "A couple of the plays that you usually take for granted, it was hesitant at times. But in the second period, it got better, and [even] better as the game went on."

The game, a 1-0 shootout loss to the New York Islanders, left most everyone shrugging. The Flyers launched 86 shots in the direction of Islanders goaltender Evgeni Nabokov - 24 blocked, 17 wide, 45 on net - and that is a healthy number, and it was 60 percent more than the Islanders managed, and it didn't matter in the end, because the Flyers couldn't score and because Ilya Bryzgalov remains less proficient at shootouts than the Clanton gang.

Shrug.

"[Nabokov] was seeing everything," Briere said. "He was feeling good . . . At least we're playing it the right way. There's going to be times during the season, you're going to play the right way and not get the points, and vice versa. When that happens, when you're playing well, you've just got to keep your heads up and go back to work tomorrow, and good things are going to start happening at some point."

Shrug.

Briere played 19 minutes, 21 seconds and had two shots on goal and two other attempts. He did look tentative at times. But he also did look like himself at times, hanging around the edge of the crease and attempting to make trouble. In the shootout, he was the Flyers' first shooter, and his attempt to jam the puck between Nabokov's skate and the post was unsuccessful.

In all, though, it was a success. And if he doesn't wake up today with a headache, it will be an even bigger success.

"I felt great," Briere said. "Now I can move on and really just concentrate on the game and not to have to think, in the back of my mind, if it's OK or not."

There is no such thing as a typical concussion, but Briere's seemed within the normal parameters. In total, he missed six games. Along the way, he seemed to endure all of the common experiences. He felt lousy, and he waited for it to feel better, and then he stressed himself with exercise. He waited to see how he would react to the stress, and he probably had a setback because he pushed too hard, and then he felt better again. He did a little bit more, and then he did a little bit more than that, and then he still felt better, and after a couple of days, he decided last night was the night.

It isn't exactly trial-and-error - the science is better than that - but everybody is different and there is still a lot of groping for answers in the sports community. It is obvious, looking around the NHL, that concussion awareness is up among the players. But until it happens, a player never knows. And if it happens a second time, he never knows if it is going to resolve itself like the first time.

You see a player like Briere - a little guy who makes his living in traffic, an agitator and inciter beyond his physical stature - and you wonder how he will be able to re-enter the dangerous areas of the ice with the same abandon. He is an important piece on a team that needs to start getting hot by, say, the end of this month. In a playoff series, in a distinguished career, he has shown himself oftentimes to be a vital piece.

But he needs to play amid the lumber. It is where he needs to begin heading, more and more, as the distance from the concussion increases. It is what we all will watch in the coming days and weeks - because human nature will suggest caution, while the calendar is beginning to suggest urgency.

That is for later, though.

"One of those nights," Briere said, after the shootout loss. But it was better than that, really.

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