Roloson also hyperextended elbow

Not only did Edmonton Oilers goaltender, Dwayne Roloson, strain his MCL in his right knee, but he also hyperextended his elbow.

"I knew right away that something bad happened," Roloson said. "I felt something pop in my knee. When (Oilers trainer) Kenny Lowe came out to find out what was going on, actually my elbow hurt more than my knee. I told him, `I don't know what I did to my elbow, but it hurts pretty bad.'"

An elbow hyperextension is basically an over straightening of the elbow.

Hyperextension of the elbow is the result of an acute injury. The mechanism is usually that of falling on an outstretched arm or hand, forcing the elbow into an overextended state. Pain is felt not only on the inside of the elbow from the stretch of the biceps, but also in the back as a result of “jamming” the bones against one another.

So what exactly is a third degree strain of the MCL? Well a third degree strain means that most of the fibers of the ligament are torn and there is a large loss of function. There are four ligaments that provide stability for the knee, the posterior and anterior cruciate ligaments (PCL & ACL) and the medial and lateral collateral ligaments (MCL & LCL). The MCL is located on the medial side of the knee. If you were to cut your body in half so that there were mirror images of you, the medial side of both knees would be the side closest to that "cutting line." The MCL provides stability for the medial side of the knee. While some may have surgery for serious cases, most MCL recoveries require rest and plenty of rehabilitation. So how do these MCL injuries typically happen?

Because the medial collateral ligament resists widening of the inside of the knee joint, the MCL is usually injured when the outside of the knee joint is struck. This action causes the outside of the knee to buckle, and the inside to widen. When the medial collateral ligament is stretched too far, it is susceptible to tearing and injury. This is the injury seen by the action of "clipping" in a football game.

The torn ligament above is an example of an MCL tear courtesy of Ortho Net.

Aside from the MCL injury , Roloson apparently has pretty nice knees.

"It's an injury that happens a lot and, unfortunately, it happened at the wrong time for me. I haven't had any bad injuries before and it was pretty funny when the doctors looked at the MRI. They asked me if I was actually a goalie because my knees were in great shape — besides the MCL."

All coaches really care about injuries is how long will it take for him to return to play.

"ACL, MCL, patella, those are the only things I know about the knee," said MacTavish. "I deal in weeks and days and series. All I can tell you is once they say he's unavailable for the rest of the series, the medical jargon is irrelevant to me."

The Green Bay Packers website actually has a nice glossary of common athletic injuries so if you're ever confused by a medical injury described in the paper, check out their website.

Roloson places no blame on Ladd or Bergeron for his injuries.

"Out of all the times I got rammed in the playoffs, that was the only time I would say that it probably wasn't a penalty," said Roloson, who doesn't need surgery but needs time to heal.