Hurricanes’ Seth Jarvis says concussion, other injuries won’t affect ‘fearless’ play
Seth Jarvis came walking into the room Thursday at PNC Arena wearing a Carolina Hurricanes cap, T-shirt and shorts, looking more the part of a 20-year-old N.C. State student than a professional hockey player.
But Jarvis is all hockey player. He now has the hard-won experience, and just as importantly the scars — physical and mental — to prove it.
In the course of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Jarvis took a shot in the groin, had his front teeth rearranged after being hit in the mouth by a stick, and then suffered a concussion Monday in Game 7 against the New York Rangers. Not that any of it will change his game or his approach to the game, the forward said.
“It’s not going to affect me,” Jarvis said Thursday. “It’s going to happen in the game of hockey. I’m never going to let fear get in the way of me playing my game and me being an effective player out there. Stuff like that can happen and it’s scary and it’s tough to go through, but there’s no reason for me to stop being fearless, stop playing hard, stop bringing energy to the team.”
Jarvis, who had his exit interviews Thursday with management and Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour, said he was feeling “a lot better.” No more headaches, he said.
“I still feel like I’m in a fog, it’s pretty slow,” he said. “But other than that there’s nothing too much going on.”
Jarvis wasn’t he only player injured during Game 7. Goalie Antti Raanta said Thursday he suffered an MCL sprain that forced him out of the game, saying the recovery time for injury will be six to eight weeks.
Jarvis said he remembers very little about the hit from the Rangers’ Jacob Trouba in the first period that took him out of the game.
“I know we had a power play in the first period at the start of the game and then after that …” he said.
Jarvis said he next recalls watching some of the third period of the 6-2 loss in the office of strength and conditioning coach Bill Burniston. He knows that teammate Jesperi Kotkaniemi drove him home after the game.
“I don’t remember anything until halfway through the next day,” he said. “It’s a little bit scary when you don’t remember anything and you have the doctors tell me what I was doing.
“I don’t remember the hit or getting off the ice or anything. So seeing that stuff and hearing it from other people is definitely a little scary.”
Jarvis had a difficult time making it back to the bench after the injury. With the Canes in transition, play was not stopped and the Canes were whistled for too many men on the ice when Martin Necas jumped over the boards and into play before Jarvis was at the bench.
The Rangers then quickly scored on the power play for a 2-0 lead, making it a costly turn of events
Jarvis was smacked in the mouth in Game 5 while trying to block a shot by the Rangers’ Ryan Strome, who caught Jarvis with the shaft of his stick on his follow-through. That left Jarvis with a bloody lip and some dental work that still needs to be done.
Earlier, in the first-round series against Boston, Jarvis was in the low slot when a shot by teammate Brendan Smith caught him in the groin, another painful injury. He did have three goals in the series, helping the Canes advance.
The Game 7 concussion was a rough ending to what has been an extremely productive year for the Canes’ former first-round draft pick. Jarvis went from a junior player trying to get into preseason training camp and make the NHL roster to a winger playing on the top line with Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen at year’s end.
“It’s too bad how his season came to an end because he was playing so well for us,” Canes forward Steven Lorentz said. “Just the way he did things this year, he’s oozing confidence and he’s just a great kid. He was a spark we needed a time, bringing that youthful energy. He just added a whole new dynamic and for a kid 20 years old, it’s cool to see.”
This story was originally published June 3, 2022 at 6:10 AM with the headline "Hurricanes’ Seth Jarvis says concussion, other injuries won’t affect ‘fearless’ play."
