Canadian field hockey sweeper Laurelee Kopeck was back in action on Thursday just four days after losing the top of her finger in a Commonwealth Games trial match!
Kopeck had the top of her little finger sliced off when it was caught between her hockey stick and a fast moving ball. Team doctor Peter Fowler sewed the missing piece back onto Kopeck's finger after Canadian officials found it on the playing field.
"She was defending a short corner and an opponent smashed the ball, it hit her little finger and sheared off the end of it," Fowler said. "The doctor at the game saw the bone exposed and sent her to our clinic at the village in an ambulance. After the game, they found her finger on the field, brought it around and we sewed it back on." Fowler said that although the section of finger had died, Kopeck's operation was successful.
"She's playing in tonight's match," Fowler said. "She wanted to play yesterday but I guess the team figured they had the opposition under control." Kopeck, whose nickname is Jumbo, warmed up with the Canadian team before its 3-0 win over Namibia.
Canadian Team leader Margie Schuett used Kopeck, a veteran of two World Cups and the 1992 Olympics, as an example of the Canadian spirit in the face of questioning over the withdrawals of several big name talents. "This kid hasn't winced, hasn't whined, hasn't complained," said Schuett. "She has her finger taken off and goes right back out there and competes again!"
Canadian women's hockey skipper Lauralee Kopeck is called "Jumbo".
Rightly, too. She is huge. "My teammates call me Jumbo because of my muscular body," said the 29-year-old Kopeck, who is still single. "I am muscular because I spent most of my time on carrying weights," said Kopeck, who is the most senior player in the Canadian team with 102 international caps.
"Besides that, I work as a general labourer which demands a lot of physical activity," said Kopeck, who hails from Duncan, Victoria.
"Most of my teammates said I should be a boxer or a weightlifter, not a hockey player. But I love to play hockey as it is a very competitive sport and entertaining as well," said the cheerful Kopeck.
"Because of my physique, I'm thinking of being a firefighter. I like risky jobs and I think being a firefighter will suit me the best," she added.
Kopeck, who plays as a sweeper, has played in two World Cup Finals and has also played in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. She played in both the 1990 Sydney World Cup and in 1994 Dublin World Cup. In both meets, Canada finished 10th. (Canada are now ranked 15th after their disappointing performances in the World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe last year).
Kopeck, who has represented Canada almost a decade, said that she would quit after the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
"Jumbo" Superstar !
Friday September 11: "After practice we went for lunch. An important sidenote: Jumbo was selected as the Canadian team athlete to have lunch with Prince Edward! She sat at his table, immediately across from him… Saying you are single in the newspaper really helps, I guess, heh?"
Saturday September 12: "A sidenote: Jumbo must have done a good job at lunch with Prince Edward, as he came to our game tonight. Not only did he come to our game, BUT he walked right onto our bench with his entire entourage. I was ready to tell them to get lost until I realized who it was! Needless to say this did not really help the focus of the people on the bench. I knew we were in a bit of trouble when about 6 of them got their picture taken with him – what can I say? I guess it is all part of the Games experience!"
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