Josh Harding's phone was blowing up Thursday. He could hardly take a breath one day after revealing that he plans to continue his NHL career despite recently being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
But the Wild goaltender made sure to reach out via text to Jordan Sigalet, the goaltending coach of the American Hockey League's Abbotsford Heat. The two plan to talk Friday.
Sigalet is 31, has had MS since 2004, played with it for five years -- three professionally -- and has no doubt Harding can do the same.
"My retirement had nothing to do with my MS," said Sigalet, who played three years for the Providence Bruins, "a whole 43 seconds" for the Boston Bruins and was a Hobey Baker finalist at Bowling Green the year after being diagnosed with MS. "I could have kept playing but decided to move on and get into the coaching side of things."
In Sigalet's junior year at Bowling Green, he had just finished playing weekend games against Northern Michigan.
"I woke up Sunday morning with numbness in my right foot," Sigalet said. "I didn't think anything of it. I thought I slept on it funny, but the pins and needles didn't go away all day. I woke up Monday, I had numbness from my chest down."
Sigalet called the team doctor, who found lesions on his brain and spine.
"You're in denial right away," he said. "You think it must be a misdiagnosis because you're 23. ... I didn't tell anyone for six months, so I can relate to why Josh waited [several weeks] to tell people. You're scared. You don't know what Minnesota will think. I thought if Boston found out, they'd drop me and sweep me under the rug. But going public was the best thing I ever did. The support was unreal."
