NASHVILLE, Tenn. — On the way home after the game, Cody Hodgson called his dad.
It was one of those familiar conversations between a hockey player at any level from peewee to pro and their father. A chat focused on the game.
What did you see on that scoring chance?
What would you do differently here?
How did you feel in that situation?
It was a hard-won slice of normalcy for Cody Hodgson, who we profiled at The Athletic earlier this year.
GO DEEPER
A mysterious illness halted his promising NHL career. Eight years later, hope and a comeback
A one-time top prospect and top-line NHL center, Hodgson’s hockey career was cut short by a genetic disorder called malignant hyperthermia. Hodgson’s disorder causes muscle tears and organ damage, a direct result of overexertion and heat sensitivity. It abruptly ended his career in 2016 and kept Hodgson out of professional hockey — understandably — for eight years.
Over the course of the past 12 months, however, Hodgson had found a way to manage his dosages of medication and push himself physically again. He dropped 30 pounds. He spent months working out with a top trainer, Brad Wheeler, who trains a constellation of NHL stars. He signed a tryout contract with the Nashville Predators’ AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, and then succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams on one of the league’s top teams, scoring five goals in his first six games.
CODY HODGSON, ARE YOU SERIOUS!!#MILhockey pic.twitter.com/zarMMzDv6x
— y – Milwaukee Admirals (@mkeadmirals) March 2, 2024
These moments in the car postgame, talking to your dad, these are the sort of moments that Hodgson hadn’t been able to savor for the past eight years, when he was away from the game. They’re up there with the thrill of bringing the home crowd to its feet, or quieting the road crowd. The greasy postgame pizza after road games. That incomparable rush that comes from competing, riffing on the ice with a linemate and just playing hockey.
On this night, Hodgson was intent on soaking it all in. He’d already made his decision.
Thirteen AHL games into an incredible comeback story eight years in the making, Hodgson had seen what he needed to see. He’d proven what he needed to prove, at least to himself, which is all that mattered.
And the symptoms from his malignant hyperthermia had returned. Away from his normal routine, in the unstructured environment of life on the road as a professional player, the micro tears to muscles in his back and neck had begun to pile up again. The heat sensitivity aggravated all of it. He was back to working through extended absences from the game and from practice. At one point, he returned home from practice only to find that he couldn’t get himself out of his car.
All of that was secondary in this moment. In this moment, he was at peace.
“We’re talking about the game and I said, ‘I’m done,’” Hodgson told The Athletic over lunch this past weekend. “I just knew something was up. I just didn’t feel good when I was skating and I’m having all these symptoms.
“So my dad said, ‘OK, well … never mind about the advice then!’”
For Hodgson, the improbable extension of his professional career came to an end because his symptoms resurfaced. While consulting closely with specialists at the University of Toronto, Hodgson had devised a narrow pathway to overcoming his illness in the right conditions.
With breathing exercises and ice baths, he was able to maintain an elite level of athletic performance for a period of about eight months. He got himself into the sort of shape that permits an athlete to play high-level professional hockey. He performed well in an exceedingly difficult league, and still had that natural nose for the net as a goal scorer, which at one point, when he was a much younger man, made him a historic player for Canada’s U20 national team and a top-10 NHL draft pick.
This article was originally published by a theathletic.com . Read the Original article here. .