Cranbrook’s Bowen Byram returned to the Colorado Avalanche’s lineup earlier this week after a month sitting on the sideline from a head injury.
In a press conference on Saturday, Byram said he kept feeling better each day, but it’s always hard to know if you’re 100 per cent.
“Over the holidays I was starting to feel better every day. I woke up feeling a little bit better,” said Byram.
“When I felt completely normal I don’t totally know, It’s kind of hard to tell when you wake up every day thinking how do I feel. The bottom line is I feel better now and I’m ready to go and I’m excited.”
He added that it wasn’t just a concussion that kept him off the ice, but other issues brought on by the original concussion.
“There’s a lot of things that are tied to concussions. I’ve been having a lot of conversations with different people about it but there are a lot of things tied to it and they can show themselves at any time,” added Byram.
“Unfortunately that happened to me after I was feeling better again. That’s life and I did what I had to do to get better and I’m feeling better now.”
While he was on the sideline his team was able to string together some wins.
Byram said it wasn’t easy watching the team play without him, but it helped that they weren’t losing.
“It was great to see the team win games. It’s kind of a cliche, but when you’re out of the lineup it sucks to sit there and watch,” said Byram.
“To see them have continued success and be playing so well every night was awesome. After a bit of a slow start to the year, to get some wins piled-up is huge.”
Before his injury, Byram had four goals and five assists in 13 games.
He’s been without a point since his return on Jan. 2 but has been playing steady minutes, including over 20 minutes in an overtime win against the Blackhawks last night.
Byram and the Avalanche are on home ice tomorrow when they face the Winnipeg Jets.