In today’s episode of This Hits Different, Shelby Cassesse tells the story of Plum hockey player Zach Miller, who was able to return to the ice after a back injury cost him his junior season.
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Plum hockey player Zach Miller had been waiting for his junior season
“We were potentially going to be good and I started off the season averaging two points per game,” he says.
But just a few games in, his back started to hurt. And this wasn't any ordinary soreness.
“I would have to take shifts off and I wouldn’t be able to play a full game,” he says.
His season ended just four games in. He was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his lower back. It put him out of hockey and pretty much everything else.
“The routine that I had to go through the first few months was basically nothing,” he says. “I couldn’t do much at all.”
Not an easy adjustment, but he refused to let the opportunity slip away.
“I was struggling at first, mentally,” Zach says. “I really missed playing a ton. I kept telling everybody that I nave this feeling of hope that I’d be able to play.”
Zach still dressed for every home game during the season. He never expected to actually see the ice, only to check a box to be eligible for the post-season. Doing all he could to keep the hope of playing with that group alive.
“I went to support my boys, because a lot of my friends graduated and went on to college to play,” Zach says. “Really wanted to support them in their senior year and just help out, show the young guys that I’m going to be here.”
Though he had to wait a bit longer than he had hoped to return to the ice, he began his senior season grateful.
Grateful for the chance to go out on his terms, and for the ability to do the thing he loves most.
“It really meant the world to me,” Zach says. “Hockey is my life. I really wanted to prove to myself that, if I want to do something, I really can do it.”