Nick Bonino doesn’t regret playing on broken tibia in 2017 Stanley Cup Finals

Hockey players are built differently, just ask Nashville Predators forward Nick Bonino.

Before Nick Bonino signed a $14 million deal with the Nashville Predators in 2017, he was a back-to-back Stanley Cup champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins, where in that second win he was playing through a significant injury.

During Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals against is now current team Bonino tried to block a shot from P.K. Subban, in doing so the puck hit his lower leg with such force that he collapsed to the ice. No expected him to come back that game, but after going back to the locker room Bonino proceeded to play an additional 12 minutes.

“It’s funny because I knew right away when I got hit with that puck that something was wrong,” Bonino told FanSided’s Mark Carman. “I tried to block the next two shots, we went in the back, took an x-ray and the doctor said ‘it’s fully broken what do you want to do, do you want to shoot it up.'”

Without hesitation Bonino, who is working with FedEx for the third annual Junior Business Challenge judging young entrepreneurs business pitches, said absolutely.

“He was hovering with the needle and said if you go back and play on this it’ll probably shift enough that you’ll need surgery, and at the time it doesn’t really matter its the [Stanley Cup] final,” Bonino said.

Bonino didn’t return for the remainder of the Stanley Cup Finals, but initially he thought he would be fine after the doctor gave him medicine to numb the pain. However, after waking up the next morning it was clear there was no way he’d be playing hockey for awhile.

I remember I woke up the next morning, stepped out of bed and just collapsed on it,” Bonino said. “I couldn’t put an ounce of pressure on it, it was definitely frustrating that morning but you do what you have to do sometimes.”

As frustrating as it was, it’s not something Bonino would change to this day. In fact it’s something that he thinks any hockey player would do. That’s not a shocking take, hockey players are some of the toughest athletes in the world and are constantly putting their bodies on the line for the betterment of the team.

Consider the situation as well. It’s the Stanley Cup Finals. It’s the pinnacle of the hockey world and the Penguins were in the midst of becoming back-to-back champions for the fifth time in franchise history.

“When playoffs end teams release their list of injuries and it’s always pretty eye-opening,” Bonino said. “I can’t explain why, it’s just in hockey you’re instilled throughout your whole life to just play through it and play hurt and try to get the win.”