In his time as the Kootenay Ice’s athletic trainer, Brad Shaw can think of several highlights.

Last winter’s 14-game winning streak is one; Arnaud Jacquemet’s playoff game-tying goal against Medicine Hat with .2 seconds remaining is another.

Asked to relate his top medical memories, he’s just as quick with a response: Dustin Sylvester’s broken ankle in December 2008, and Drew Czerwonka’s calf laceration last fall.

“You remember all the injuries, remember what works for you, what doesn’t work for you as far as rehab, but those two guys would be the two that I would put at the top of my list for the most drastic and unique injuries that I dealt with over my three years here,” he said, on the eve of his departure for the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

Shaw remembers well Dec. 27, 2008, the night Sylvester broke his ankle in Lethbridge. He took a hit and landed with all his weight on one leg, breaking two bones in his leg. Teammates recounted hearing his screams from the bench.

“Obviously, when you get out to a guy and he’s telling you that something’s not right and he can’t open his eyes because of pain, you know you’re in a situation where you have to do everything possible to get this guy a) to a safe place and, b) to a more comfortable place,” said Shaw, who tended to Sylvester with the Hurricanes’ trainer before riding with the player by ambulance to the hospital in Lethbridge; that’s where he had the first of two surgeries on the broken bones.

Sylvester missed the rest of that season, but returned as a 20-year-old to lead the Ice in scoring.

The second injury on Shaw’s list was a fluky one, as Czerwonka was sliced on the back of his leg by the skate blade of an Edmonton Oil King. It happened three games into the 2009-10 season.

“Drew’s took me by surprise. When he came off the ice, you could definitely see the blood in his sock and you knew something wasn’t right,” said Shaw.

The extent wasn’t clear until that sock was cut off.

“When you’re staring at a hole in somebody’s leg that shouldn’t be there, that’s definitely an eye-opener,” said Shaw.

“Again, the same thing with Drew as Dustin: you give players credit for coming back from injuries like that. It’s huge for them, and it’s obviously huge for me to get those guys back too.”

Last fall, Shaw also helped Brayden McNabb recover from a serious knee injury in less than a month, in time to play for Team WHL in the Canada-Russia Challenge.

“Nabber is a very, very highly motivated guy. He wants to play hockey: he’s got his chance, he’s been drafted and he’s doing everything possible to get there and that wasn’t a small injury either,” said Shaw.

Together with team doctors Alex Chan, Ross Dawson and Keith Lowden, they decided on an aggressive rehab program.

“We all sat down and we kind of had that mutual feeling that, if this is something Nabber wants to do, to push to get into this Canada-Russia Game... we’re going to do everything in our power to get this guy there,” said Shaw.

“Nabber works hard on a good day, but Nabber worked 10 times harder on his rehab than he needed to, and he got to the point to get (to the game). He might have been in a bit of a limited capacity when he got there, but he played well and he was (invited to) the World Junior camp this summer, so obviously they saw something that they liked.”

Kris Knoblauch, then an assistant coach, remembers the rash of serious injuries that plagued the first half of last season — Christian Magnus’s broken finger and Dominik Pacovsky’s broken foot among them.

“Four guys (around) the same time with very serious injuries — Brad did a wonderful job of mending those guys with the support of our doctors,” Knoblauch said.

“Brad was the one who worked with the players every day and tailors the physio to meet their needs. He did a wonderful job, and to get our players back from injury as quick as he did last year definitely had a direct result on our success.”