James McEwan thought he merely had a season-ending injury when he broke his thumb in a fight in February. Improbably, it was worse.

As reported today’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin, the enforcer doesn’t expect to play his next game with the Reign until late October. The full story is a little confusing and more than a little gruesome.

Here are the highlights from the rest of our interview:

Talk about the surgery you underwent this summer?

I had the surgery in mid-June. I came out of my cast, where my
thumb is broken. My wrist was limp. My tendons were ruptured. We couldn’t tell
what was wrong at first. They couldn’t reconnect them [the tendons]. So they had to take a
tendon out of the front of my arm, do a tendon transfer. They ended up drilling
a hole in my metacarpal, took a tendon out of my arm and put it into my wrist. I had
three tendons combined into one. It’s pretty crazy. It’s something off the
movies, it’s amazing what they can do. … I have scars up and down my forearm. … Unless they want the mutant look, my hand modeling career is
over.

Do you have a timetable for returning to the ice?

I’m thinking probably end of October I should be
back. That’s what me and (head coach) Karl (Taylor) talked about. I’ve been working with doctors
here. I don’t want to go back and stitch it up. Just want to make sure I’m 100
percent when I come back.

How did it happen?

It’s hard to tell, because they didn’t
find it right away. I had cut tendons before – I got stepped on my last year in
junior – so they fixed those up. When I came out of my cast from my (thumb)
injury, my wrist was just limp. I kept trying to get it better and better, but
it was just a floppy wrist. I knew something was up. They don’t know exactly how I could have done it. The doctor
thinks it was probably from a punch, and the wrist went over top. When you snap
a tendon, it’s not like – it’s hard to tell. It probably did (happen at the
time of the broken thumb). I’m guessing most likely, yeah.

How did you feel about last season prior to the injury?

I thought Ontario was such a great place to
play. We had the best fans in the league. It’s a great atmosphere. I personally
wasn’t too happy with how the season started. We kind of got off to a slow
start. Myself too, I wasn’t happy with my play. I kind of went back and forth,
inconsistent for awhile. I started playing more, got in a couple fights, scored a couple goals.
Just as I was started to get happy with my play, I was out. I was disappointed
in my season that way. I’m excited just to be back, be healthy, and ready to
get back to work and have a successful year – first with the team, and that’ll
help me individually.

Considering the nature of the injury, were you at all surprised to be brought back?

I talked to Karl and I wasn’t really surprised, because
Karl knows what I bring and it’s not going to change. He was happy with the way
I played before the end of my season, when I got injured. That’s going to be
part of my game, and even more for what I bring back this year. I wouldn’t say
I was surprised. I was happy to be given the opportunity to come back. I love
it there. I want to be part of a winning organization.

Basic question: You’re a fighter, you’re coming off a pretty serious hand/wrist injury, how are you going to be able to do your job?

There’s ways to adapt to everything. If anyone’s messing
with my guys, I’m going to be the first one to jump in there. I’m going to be
ready to go. I was in a cast for a while, then a splint. Now I’m out. I’ve got
light weights to get my strength back. My whole arm has been immobilized. In the gym, it’s just getting the strength back really
slowly. With this injury, it’s just time – not rushing it. That’s the hardest
thing, not rushing back. I’d like to push it, but it’s just taking it slow,
getting the strength back. I should be good by the end of October.

I haven’t played a game since February, so I’m really rolling to go.
I’ve never been out this long. Can’t wait to get back at it. … Back to back injuries, with my thumb, then finding out my
wrist too. It’s been a long haul. I’m ready to get going.