Dawg Nation Bowl Helps Injured Hockey Players Get Back On The Ice

DENVER (CBS4) - About a year and half ago, Canadian hockey player, Graysen Cameron sustained a broken back in the Humboldt Broncos tragic bus accident. Earlier this summer, Graysen made his miraculous return to the rink, here in Colorado at the 9th annual Dawg Nation Bowl.

When Graysen traveled from Alberta, Canada all the way to the Mile High City for his first live action since surviving the Humboldt bus crash, he didn't come alone. He brought his friend Ryan Vandervlis.

"For Graysen and I, we've both been through a tough batch of life," Vandervlis said.

A year earlier, Vandervlis' hockey career was hanging by a thread. A backyard campfire gone wrong left the then-19-year-old in a medically induced coma. He suffered burns to more than 50% of his body. Doctors were unsure what Ryan's future held.

"With burns, they give you a worst case scenario. They're pretty unpredictable and different case-by-case. I don't really remember six weeks of my life," Vandervlis said.

Vandervlis has had to recover from multiple skin graft surgeries. He's had to rebuild muscle after losing nearly 30 pounds. And he's dealing with the after-effects of a tracheotomy that's left his throat covered in scar tissue.

"It's basically like a constricted airway," Vandervlis says of his throat. "It used to be a hell of a lot worse. I remember walking up a flight of stairs and just being hands on my knees, bagged. It was tough to even talk for a long time. But as the scar tissue healed over the year, it's gotten a lot better."

When Ryan came to Colorado for the Dawg Bowl, the thin mile high air posed a bigger challenge than he had expected.

"The high altitude is tough, because I already have a lack of oxygen. That's my biggest challenge right now, just hammering the cardio and trying to loosen that scar tissue because they can't really scrape out any more of it," Vandervlis said.

Ryan and Graysen's weekend in Colorado was a success -- they both found the back of the net a few times and inspired many in the Colorado hockey community and beyond, though that whole inspiring thing never really crosses Ryan's mind.

"I hear that a lot. I think Cams does as well. But we've never had the mindset of, 'oh we're going to inspire others'. We just want to have our lives back and play hockey again," Vandervlis said.

The Dawg Nation Hockey Foundation is dedicated to helping hockey players and their families in times of crisis. To learn more about the foundation and their many charitable causes, visit their website at www.dawgnationhockey.org