LOS ANGELES — It was more than two years ago that Edmonton Oilers defenceman Kurtis Foster last played in the HP Pavilion at San Jose, Calif.

Given that he arrived on the team bus and left in an ambulance, he had some trepidation about returning.

“It felt good to get through the game and feel good about it,” he said after the Oilers practice in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Edmonton was defeated 2-1 by the Sharks in San Jose on Tuesday.

“The last time I was on the ice in that building, I didn’t go out the same door I came in,” Foster continued. “No matter how much you try not to think about it, it is in the back of your head.”

On March 19, 2008, Foster, then playing defence with the Minnesota Wild, was slammed into the end boards by the Sharks’ Torey Mitchell in a race for the puck.

His left leg was shattered, his career in doubt. It took 10 hours of surgery to fuse his femur back together, leaving Foster with a steel rod, three metal screws, and a long road to recovery.

Because he’d been away from the game so long, he was sent for a conditioning stint in the American Hockey League late in the 2008-09 season. His first game back with the Wild was supposed to be in San Jose. He pushed his return back a day.

“I made my return the next night in L.A. I wasn’t at 100 per cent, but now I feel fine. I feel like I’m back to where I used to be,” he said.

Foster spent last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning, then returned to the Western Conference when he signed with the Oilers this past off-season.

“I was definitely nervous during the morning skate, and going into the second period I had a few nerves,” he said. “I went back for that one puck and Torrey was chasing me … I think he let up a little bit, which was nice of him. I do think it will always be there when I go in there, but I do think it will bother me less and less.”

jireland@edmontonjournal.com

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