White: wearing a visor is a "personal decision"

If the vision in Devils defenseman Colin White's damaged right eye somehow miraculously returned to normal, he says he would not wear a protective visor.

"If I had my eyesight, I wouldn't be wearing one," White said this morning after participating in an informal skate at the team's practice facility at Prudential Center.

When White reports with the other Devils' veterans for training camp physicals next Friday, it will mark the one-year anniversary of his injury. During a training camp practice on Sept. 19, 2007, he was struck in the right eye by a deflected shot off the stick of Nicklas Bergfors.

Although White's vision in his right eye improved marginally at first, he says it hasn't gotten any better since the end of last season and doctors have told him, "This is going to be it."

He's ready to put the injury behind him, though.

"There's still points in everyday life that affects you, but you move on," he said. "I'm not going to make excuses because of what happened to my eye."

And he's not about to become an advocate for making protective visors mandatory for all players in the NHL.

"It's everybody's personal decision," he said. "I don't think it ever should be mandatory. That's a player's choice. We're old enough to make that decision. Is it safer to wear a visor? Probably. But I would rather not wear it. It feels better. It's more comfortable without it. You still have to worry about (the visor) fogging up or getting wet."

Although Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner started wearing a visor last season because of White's injury, White said he didn't talk him into it.

"Jamie had tried one before," White said. "It's a personal preference and he was working out with me and he wanted to try it and got used to it."

White said he doesn't wear the visor now to keep his right eye from becoming damaged further, but to make sure his healthy left eye remains that way. 

"It's to protect my other eye," he said. "I can't hurt the other one. That's my biggest thing because if I ever hurt the other eye, I wouldn't be able to have a regular life."

***

Thirteen players took part in this morning's informal skate -- White, Langenbrunner, Scott Clemmensen, Andy Greene, Sheldon Brookbank, Bryce Salvador, Johnny Oduya, Zach Parise, Travis Zajac, David Clarkson, Dainius Zubrus, Brian Gionta and Jay Pandolfo.

Several other players, including Martin Brodeur, worked out off the ice.

***

The Devils held a ribbon-cutting ceremony this morning to officially rename their practice rink at Prudential Center as the "AmeriHealth Pavilion.

Although Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said last week that it wasn't "set in stone" that training camp would not be open to the public, it appears it will not be. I've been told there is still a chance that practices during the regular season will be open to the public, though. I'll keep you posted.

Comments

[Pearl Jammed(RJ Arditti)]

what are they worried about? i think its pretty crappy of them to not let the fans in to both Training Camp, and practices. I used to love to go to south mountain to see camp.

[Ali-P]

Great to hear they are keeping their product they are trying to sell in a bubble.

[Adrienne]

that's the one thing that bugs me a bit about Lou. I trust him and all with what he does (although sometimes I do wonder what he's thinking w/ some decisions) but he keeps the team very isolated. I see other teams (blackhawks and penguins for example) where they have conventions & fun gatherings for the team and their fans. The devils should really do that...especially since they are in an area that has 4 teams SO close to them, they should do something that makes them stand out when it comes to the NY-NJ-Philadelphia teams.

Sorry for that rant =]

As for White' sight....I'm glad he's not letting it effect him

[Falcone]

That's too bad camp is closed. I loved going the last few years.

[KB]

i thought we were told originally that the practices when moved to Newark would still be open. but hey, us season ticket holders apparently dont pay nearly enough to see a free practice. =/

[Ali-P]

I live in PA near Philly so its tough for me to come up for many games, especially after a day at work. I was hoping to come up on a saturday with my daughter to watch the team practice. I really enjoyed that as a kid growing up near the Totowa Ice World and eventually South MT. and now that i'm older one of the few opportunities I get to see the team i'm shut out. I don't understand why other teams can hold open practices and New Jersey devils organization refuse to do so. If it is because of the location, I don't understand why they moved there.

[Robbie]

Penguins players brought the tickets to some season ticket holders.I think the only events we have are the Awards and skating with the Devils

[KB]

penguins brought them to 35 season ticket holders.

TG, Does Sutter personally dislike open practices ? I know we had open practices basically until he came.

[TG]

There were open practices with Sutter as head coach when the team was still practicing at South Mountain last season, so I don't think it has anything to do with him. The practices only became closed after the team started practicing in Newark.

[Nel]

I believe the reason for training camp being closed to the public is because they will only have 2 training practices this year so I'm sure they don't want any distractions. But I definitely agree that they've got to make this team more accessible.

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