from Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, About 600 miles separated him from his wife, who was lying in a hospital bed at UPMC Mercy, Uptown. She had fallen ill a day after the Winter Classic, another presumed reoccurrence of a kidney infection. Four days later, as her husband — one of the most infamous players in the NHL for his controversial hits — was frantically calling before a game-day breakfast with Penguins teammates in Montreal, Michelle Cooke was dying.
“I get a hold of a doctor, and he says, ‘I think you should come back right now,’ ” Cooke said. “I got there, and they’ve got a chaplain giving her the blessing (for recovery) and our kids are in that room.”
Seven months later, Cooke warmly gripped his wife’s right hand during a lunch at Aviva Brick Oven Pizzeria in Warrendale. He had not played an NHL game in five months and acknowledged the next could be his last — even if he unintentionally hits a...
Original Story:
