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Sports Oakville Beaver By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009 17 Childhood dreams dashed, Aziz sets new goals Rowing filling hockey's void for Appleby grad hether it's propelling a boat through the water or climbing to the upper ranks of his sport, Dan Aziz knows how to make things happen in a hurry. Within a year of taking up rowing, Aziz had made the junior national team and won his first international medals. Within two years, he was fielding scholarship offers from Ivy League schools, finally settling on Brown University. Then came this summer's Canada Games in Prince Edward Island. The 20-year-old continued his rapid ascent by helping the Ontario fours crew win the gold medal, just four years into his rowing career. "There was so much motivation to get gold," Aziz said. "Nationals or even the Olympics, once you reach that level, you're probably going to get there another time. This one, because of the age requirements, is extremely unique because you only get one shot." Aziz knows enough to make the most of those opportunities. He knows better than anyone how quickly life can change. And rowing is giving him the chance to enjoy the greatest second chance of all. The injury Aziz was 12 years old when he was wakeboarding at a friend's cottage near Bracebridge. As he lauched off a wave, he attempted a 360-degree spin. As he did, the rope wrapped around his neck. When he landed, the board As he was being dug into the water airlifted to the but the boat continued to speed forHospital for Sick ward. It snapped his Children, he had neck. only one thought Aziz remembers on his mind: lying face down in hockey starts on the water, trying in vain to turn himself Tuesday. over. For 10 minutes, he could not move his arms or legs. As he was being airlifted to the Hospital for Sick Children, he had only one thought on his mind: hockey starts on Tuesday. Anne Aziz and her husband Bob arrived home that night and received a message from their daughter, who was also at the cottage, saying Dan had been taken to the hospital. "I thought he had broken his collarbone," Anne said. "I never imagined for a second the W news I was going to hear." Dan had a hangman's fracture -- his C2 vertabra had snapped in half and one of the pieces had dislocated the C3 vertabra below it. It was an injury with a survival rate of about five per cent. "He was very unstable," said Anne. "He couldn't even be wheeled through the hospital in case they hit a bump. They brought a portable x-ray to his bed. That's how fragile he was." Even as he was being prepped for surgery, Dan was still thinking about hockey practice. "I was a naïve teenager. I thought I was invincible," he said. The comeback Aziz emerged from the seven-hour surgery with a halo to stabilize his neck and head, but the determined youngster never gave up on his dream. As soon as he was able, he began doing pushups -- with the 30 pounds of hardware still attached to his head -- to rebuild his strength and expediate his return to the ice. He worked so hard that the sweat caused infection around the screws drilled into his head to hold the halo in place. That didn't stop him. The screws would be replaced four times, leaving scars that remain today, before the halo was finally removed. Four-and-a-half months later, Aziz returned to the ice with his Mississauga Senators bantam teammates. He practiced with the team and dressed for games but sat on the bench. When he finally did return to action, his comeback lasted all of 10 seconds. Aziz stepped on the ice, took a pass and was belted by an opponent, sending him sliding into the boards. "I got the shot off, though," Aziz said, with pride in his voice, "but I hit the post. That would have been a pretty cool story if I scored." The alternative Not every story has a happy ending, though. Aziz would never play competitive hockey again. It was deemed too risky after having the vertebrae in his neck fused together. He still plays recreationally but his dreams of playing in the NHL with his friend and former teammate Sam Gagner, now of the Edmonton Oilers, were finished. "It was a pretty devastating blow," Aziz said. "I'm pretty sure it broke his heart, but he didn't complain," his mother said. But the story was not over. Aziz began RIZIERO VERTOLLI / OAKVILLE BEAVER See Rowing page 18 ROWING SUCCESS: Dan Aziz is pictured with the gold and silver medals he won with Ontario's rowing team at the recent Canada Summer Games in Prince Edward Island. The 20-yearold Appleby College grad began rowing only four years ago after a broken neck ended his childhood dreams of playing professional hockey.