Hockey

The Czech Republic received some good news on Saturday as forward Patrik Elias returned to the New Jersey Devils' lineup after missing the past 10 games with a concussion.

According to a report in the Newark Star-Ledger, Elias was cleared by a neurologist on Thursday after suffering a concussion on January 16th in a game against the Colorado Avalanche.

Elias was on the ice for over 22 minutes in the Devils 3-1 loss to the Rangers, taking 24 shifts and picking up an assist on Danius Zubrus' third period goal.

San Jose Sharks' defenceman and Canadian Olympian Dan Boyle also returned to action on Saturday after missing six games with what the team described as an 'upper-body' injury.

Boyle finished the game with a minus-1 rating in 19 minutes of ice-time while taking two shots.

Canada's Roberto Luongo was also back between the pipes for the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday after being given a "mental health day" by the Canucks' staff on Thursday in a loss to the Ottawa Senators.

Team Sweden is likely breathing a sigh of relief this morning as the Detroit Free Press is reporting that Red Wings' forward Tomas Holmstrom leg injury is not as bad as originally thought.

The 37-year old left Saturday's game against the Los Angeles Kings with what the team originally described as a leg injury. Upon further examination it was determined that Holmstrom suffered a bruised left knee and the injury was not related to the broken foot that caused the Pitea, Sweden native to miss 13 games earlier in the season.

In other Olympic injury news the Star Tribune reported that Finland's Niklas Backstrom returned to the ice on Saturday with his Minnesota Wild teammates after undergoing an undisclosed medical procedure on Thursday. Backstrom plans to go through a full workout on Sunday then practice on both Monday and Tuesday in hopes of getting the start on Wednesday against the Phoenix Coyotes.

The Helsinki native had been suffering both headaches and backaches and only recently discovered that the two ailments were related.

"They found out the reason and I got it done Thursday," Backstrom told the Star Tribune. "[Friday] was good and [Saturday] I feel great. It was scary and you start to worry about it. But I was relieved once they found out what it was. It was an easy thing to fix."

German forward Marcel Goc was held out of the Nashville Predators' lineup in a loss to the Sharks on Saturday with what the Nashville City Paper is describing as an reoccurrence of an 'upper-body' injury which caused him to miss three games at the end of January.

Predators head coach Barry Trotz told the Nashville City Paper that he expects Goc to be ready to return to the Preds' lineup Tuesday agains the New York Islanders. Goc, one of only six players on the German roster to skate in the NHL this season should be clear to play for his nation in Vancouver.

With the Canadiens' Andrei Kostitsyn still nursing a knee injury and the Toronto Maple Leafs refusal to release an injured Mikhail Grabovski to be made available for the Olympic Games, Belarus may have only two current NHL players in their lineup to begin the tournament. One of them, Colorado Avalanche defenceman Ruslan Salei, hopes to return to the Avs' lineup this week after recovering from back-surgery.

Salei, who captained Belarus to a quarterfinal upset of Sweden in the 2002 Olympic Games, told the Denver Post that he will do whatever it takes to return in time for the Games and create new memories similar to those in 2002.

"It was amazing the excitement in our country after that," Salei told the Denver Post. "It's obviously going to be tough to match. But it's just exciting, and it looks like it could be my last one. I just want to enjoy every minute of it."