Hometown hero and Grizzlys captain Chase Olsen is hoping he can beat mono in time to play in the team's home opener Sept. 22 as they host the Whitecourt Wolverines.
But he's not betting on it.
"You know, you try to get better slowly; lay low, drink lots of fluids and stuff. I haven't been able to do a whole bunch of anything. I can't really exercise or anything because the mono drains you pretty quickly during the day," he said during an interview with the Albertan.
Olsen is one of two Grizzlys diagonosed with mono. The other is Hayden Struik, who is back in Edmonton trying to beat the disease.
Olsen was diagnosed with mono about three weeks ago.
"I'm going to try to make it for our home opener, but I don't want to rush and do it and get set back any, so I'll get a blood test again and see where it goes from there," he says.
It's especially frustrating for Olsen this year because he's now 20, in his last year of Junior A hockey eligibility.
"It's definitely tough," he says. "I haven't really been able to be a part of the start of the season.
"But in a way, it's a good time, instead of getting it in the middle of the year and missing a bunch of games. I can get back with the team and everything can go back to normal again.
"I'm not getting too down on it. You can only control so much of it. It's a decent time to get it right now," he adds.
"It's a long season, there's a lot to look forward to. We've still got the showcase. You've got playoffs after that. So as long as I can get healthy and stay healthy, the season will be good."
In the meantime, Olsen is doing what he can to help the team.
"I'm in contact with the team lots. I'm talking to the guys, talking to the rookies and stuff, getting everybody settled with that, passing on advice, giving guys information about the team or things they might want to work on or just get comfortable with the league and stuff," he says.
"I guess the biggest thing is to avoid them and hopefully not pass mono on to the whole team," he adds with a laugh. (I'm) just getting better as quickly as I can."
Olsen says as far as he knows, he and Struik are the only members of the team who have mono. As the Albertan reported earlier, several are recovering from the flu and Jared Power is recovering from surgery.
Olsen admits there's a chance he passed mono on to Struik because Struik was living with him.
"I'm just excited," he says, "waiting for the season to start."
"You try to get better slowly; lay low, drink lots of fluids and stuff. I haven't been able to do a whole bunch of anything."CHASE OLSENCAPTAINOLDS GRIZZLYS
