TORONTO – Crosby came back and filled the score sheet with four points that mesmerizing night last November. John-Michael Liles could only chuckle in amazement. “Im just sitting there shaking my head like ‘Why cant I do that?” he told TSN.ca with a large grin hours before a late season affair against the Sabres. It was Paul Gaustads devastating body-check in late December which knocked Liles from the Leafs lineup for over a month, a career-year derailed because of the concussion. Only now, about two months and 29 games after first stepping back onto the ice in Pittsburgh does he feel the puzzles pieces coming together. “Its kind of a crappy thing because you end up not doing anything for over a month and then youre coming back and everybodys in full-speed and battling for the playoffs and it just makes it that much tougher,” Liles explained. “Its been a process for sure.” For a series of seemingly endless mornings after the concussion, Liles would awake and obsessively check for symptoms, hoping they would finally disappear and he could begin the recovery process. “Maybe you wake up and you feel good and then 20 minutes later youre like ‘Man, I dont feel good,” he recalled. “Its little things that can trigger it … You walk up a set of stairs sometimes and youre like ‘Ah man, that was dumb. Its not like something where you do it and all of a sudden youre like laying on the ground, but its something that you notice where on a normal day it would be something that you wouldnt even think twice about.” Liles went to great lengths to feel like himself again. He shopped for new pillows to alleviate the “locked up” feeling in his neck. He even injected foods considered beneficial to brain health to his diet. “Youre eating fish capsules,” he said, “anything and everything that they say is healthy brain food or just even trying to stimulate your brain without stimulating it too much.” Concussions offer no standard procedure for recovery so far all the wishing, wanting and diet-shuffling he may have tried Liles could do nothing to force the issue. “It was a tough thing,” he said. “Its not like a broken bone or something like that where youre like ‘Okay, its three or four weeks and then you can come back and you can still be training. Its like ‘Nope, youre shut down until this goes away so every morning you wake up thinking ‘Okay, maybe itll be today. Its one of those things, its a tough thing to get your mind set to not think about it.” About two weeks after the date of the collision and subsequent injury, Liles did finally awake with no instant concern for his symptoms. “You wake up out of my bed and youre like ‘Okay, what am I going to have for breakfast, not ‘Okay, what am I feeling right now?” he recalled with some satisfaction. The first hurdle cleared, Liles could begin his comeback to the ice, a challenge in itself. “Shut down” for weeks while battling persistent neck problems, the Indiana native was racing back not only from the symptoms themselves, but against the pitfalls of inactivity and an NHL competition already in full swing. Ron Wilson offered an apt assessment before he was dismissed, noting that in Liles case “the puzzle pieces are all there, but hes not seeing the ones that fit right”. “Its definitely how it felt for quite a while after I came back,” Liles agreed. The greatest challenge he explained was “being able to read the play” and ultimately finding that timing off by just the slightest of margins. “Somebody will make a pass on the other team and its a read that you would normally read easily, but its like all of a sudden youre like ‘Man, he just made that pass, I shouldve seen that, I shouldve known but youre just that half-step behind sometimes,” he noted. Liles troubles came at the worst of times for the Leafs, coinciding with the teams two-month collapse from the postseason picture. On pace for a career-year before the injury – totaling 21 points in 34 games – Liles slowed to just four points and a minus-18 rating in the 28 games afterward, this before Saturday when he posted a goal and an assist in a strong performance against the Sabres. “I feel like Im finally starting to get my legs back and my timing back,” he said. “Unfortunately the results havent come along with it, but Ive felt better on the ice, just in my reads and my decision-making. “Like I said, you feel like youre just that step or step and a half behind when you come back and then youre doing everything you can to play catch up. Its that fine line of youre trying to train to get your legs back and your strength back and things like that, but then youre trying not to over-train. Its such a fine line that youre walking.” This was not his first experience with a concussion. Just last year – while still with the Avalanche – Liles was diagnosed with the injury in the seasons final days, but in that instance he had the full summer to recuperate before starting fresh the following fall. Lifting the fog of a concussion midseason has proved a different challenge. “Youre battling for playoff position and you want to contribute so much, you want to help the team win and then when its been a time like this, its definitely been trying on all of us,” he concluded. “I go home and want to contribute more and want to help the team more. Its kind of the way its shaken out. But its something that Ill learn from and maybe not even on a concussion-related level, but I think its something Ill learn from and hopefully the rest of the guys learn from. As a young team we have to learn to win and as the season goes on – every year – it gets tougher and tougher to win and you have to learn how to win. Its a big part of the growth process I think and I think that its something that we as a team and we as individual players have to learn.” Concussion and all. wholesale jerseys . What the Wolverines didnt know is that theyre a lot more resilient than they might have realized. Nik Stauskas scored 26 points, including seven in overtime, as No. 14 Michigan erased a 16-point second-half deficit to beat Florida State 82-80 Friday in the island tournament. cheap jerseys . Tom Soehn, Vancouvers director of soccer operations, had made the journey to evaluate defender Alain Rochat and midfielder Davide Chiumiento. http://www.wholesalejerseychinast... . Manager Davey Johnson said left fielder Bryce Harper would not be suspended or fined by Major League Baseball for being ejected in Sundays 6-2 win at Pittsburgh. [url=http://www.wholesalejerseychinastore.com/]cheap nfl jerseys .ca NFL Power Rankings, just ahead of the New England Patriots. Of course, having the Broncos and Patriots -- the top two seeds in the AFC -- at the top of the rankings conjures up a potential playoff matchup with Peyton Mannings Broncos facing Tom Bradys Patriots in the AFC Title game. cheap jerseys from china . His current teams 10-run inning was something special. Gonzalez drove in three runs with a single and double in the big seventh inning and the hot-hitting Boston Red Sox rolled to a 14-5 win over the struggling San Diego Padres on Monday night.INDIANAPOLIS -- The Colts victory over Peyton Manning came at a hefty price. Andrew Luck lost his favourite target and the Indianapolis locker room lost one of its most revered leaders when Reggie Wayne was diagnosed Monday with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that will cost him the rest of the season. News of Waynes injury hit hard at the team complex. Second-year receiver T.Y. Hilton expressed sadness about losing his mentor. Coach Chuck Pagano tried to lean on his standard line about replacing injured players, though it didnt come with quite the same passion, and Luck blamed himself for putting Wayne in harms way with a low, underthrown ball late in the game against Denver. "Looking back it again today, there was really no one within 30 yards of him. He probably would have scored if I actually give him a decent ball. I feel somewhat responsible for the whole thing," Luck said. "I think I feel sick to my stomach about it a little bit." Wayne, who was not hit on the play, immediately clutched his right knee and stayed on the ground for several minutes as Luck, longtime friend Antoine Bethea, other teammates and a group of trainers gathered around. After making the short walk to the Colts sideline, the man who had played in 189 consecutive games limped into the locker room with tears in his eyes knowing that his season was likely over. Pagano and teammates were hoping for the best. Instead, they got the worst possible news, and theres no doubt Waynes absence will hurt the AFC South leaders. The perennial Pro Bowler leads his team with 38 catches and 503 yards this season. In 13 seasons, all with the Colts, he has 1,006 receptions, 13,506 yards and 80 TD catches -- second in each category on the franchises career charts, behind only ex-teammate Marvin Harrison and ahead of Hall of Famer Raymond Berry. But Waynes impact cant be measured merely by stats. When the Colts (5-2) decided to cut ties with more than a half-dozen high-priced veterans, including Manning, following Indys dismal 2-14 season, Wayne was one of the few holdovers who decided to stick around and rebuild. He even took less money to stay in his adopted hometown, and quickly emerged as a centerpiece of the Colts incredible turnaround. He always plays with passion, which was never more evident than last October against Green Bay. In Indys first game after Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia, Wayne caught 13 passes for 212 yards and almost single-handedly willed the Colts from a 17-3 deficit to a 30-27 victory that ended with Waynes orange gloves, a tribute to Pagano, barely crossing the goal line with 35 seconds to go. Its one of the reasons Pagano believes Wayne will return next season at full throttle. "Hes not going out like this. Hes not going to leave this game like this. Theres no way," said Pagano, who first met Wayne when they were working together at the University of Miami. "Hell fight, hell get his surgery, and hell rehab and hell grind like nobodys ever grinded. Hell do whatever it takes to get back on that football field -- even if its to catch one more pass, make one more block, do one more thing to help this organization win a football game, hell do it.dddddddddddd But hes not going out like this." Pagano did not say when Wayne would have surgery though it takes most athletes a year to come back. Some require 18 to 24 months, though Vikings running back Adrian Peterson and former Steelers cornerback Rod Woodson did it quicker than that. Peterson came back in nine months and went on to win last seasons MVP Award. The then-30-year-old Woodson returned to play in the Super Bowl following the 1995 season after tearing up his knee in that seasons opener. Obstacles can be more difficult for older athletes such as Wayne, who turns 35 next month and will be heading into the final year of his contract next season. "There is a thought that the recovery process might be a little slower in athletes as they get older, but there arent any real studies that show its harder to recover," said Dr. David Geier, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist in Charleston, S.C. "We think being a high-level athlete in good shape can help because we know that the strength of the muscle going in plays a role how fast you get back. But being a higher level athlete, also means you have a higher bar to achieve to getting back." The Colts have seen this scenario before. In 2007, the then 35-year-old Harrison injured his knee while making a block when another player rolled up on the back of his leg. He missed most of that season and was never the same. He finished 2008 with 60 catches for 636 yards and five TDs but never played another down in the NFL after that season. Pagano doesnt believe it will happen to Wayne. "You just look in the mans eye. When he tells you hes going to do something, I can just look in his eye," Pagano said. "Again, Ive known him for a long time and watched him work over the years and he says Ill be back, I trust hell be back." Since dealing with a high ankle sprain and a sprained knee, which cost him three games as a rookie in 2001, Wayne had not missed a game. That streak that will officially end Nov. 3 at Houston when the Colts return from their bye week. Pagano would not say if the Colts will shop for another replacement. For now, they plan to go with the receivers already on the roster -- Hilton, Darrius Heyward-Bey, LaVon Brazill and David Reed -- and perhaps activate one or both of the teams practice squad, DaRick Rogers or Griff Whalen. Losing Wayne hurts even more because of what has already happened to Indys offence. Starting tight end Dwayne Allen (hip), Indys top two running backs, Vick Ballard (knee) and Ahmad Bradshaw (neck), and starting left guard Donald Thomas (quad) are already on season-ending injured reserve. Wayne is likely to join that list soon. "The first thing out of his mouth is he feels like he let his teammates down because he cant be there now. Thats how unselfish this guy is," Pagano said. "Like I told you, he could give a hoot about the numbers, all that stuff. He just wants to play and help us win a championship. Thats what hes dealing with right now." cheap jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' '