The conference finals opened on the road, a best-of-seven series against a Central Division powerhouse that had won the Cup two years earlier and returned nearly its entire championship roster, and Cole understood, skating out for warmups in Game One, that this was the hardest hockey he'd ever play in his life.
They split the first two games on the road, the series shifting home for Games Three and Four, and it was in the third period of Game Three, chasing down a loose puck in the corner, that Cole felt his skate catch an edge wrong, his body twisting awkwardly as an opposing forward's hip caught him mid-stride, and he went down hard, his left ankle — the same ankle, the exact same joint that had ended his sophomore season of college hockey — folding underneath him at an angle that sent
