Ivanans needs surgery

By Matthew Kredell on November 12, 2007 1:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Raitis Ivanans is scheduled to have surgery tomorrow to free up a pinched nerve and have a plate inserted in his cheek. He is expected to be out through the week. He's hoping to start skating again in five days. His cheek is still black and blue and his left eye bloodshot 10 days after the injury occurred when he was struck by a puck in San Jose.

``I can't stand sitting around anymore, that's for sure,'' Ivanans said. ``But it's going to have to be a little longer.''

J.P. Hoornstra writes about NHL and IHL hockey for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. He welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey. E-mail J.P. at jp.hoornstra
@inlandnewspapers.com.

Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews
.com.