No surgery required, but done for regular season. RDS reports, as follows:

http://www.rds.ca/canadien/chroniques/202097.html

Bégin: saison terminée



Steve Bégin Mardi 11 avril 2006 - (RDS.ca) – L’attaquant Steve Bégin ratera les quatre derniers matchs du Canadien en saison régulière, lui qui souffre d’une entorse au genou gauche.


La bonne nouvelle dans son cas est qu’il n’aura pas à passer sous le bistouri.

Pour l’instant, aucune date n’a été avancée quant à un éventuel retour au jeu, mais Bégin garde espoir de pouvoir revenir pour les séries éliminatoires.

En 76 matchs cette saison, le numéro 22 a marqué 11 buts et récolté 12 passes.

Plus de détails à venir

Begin also says he hopes to play in the playoffs, and with that guy you never know!

Saku11 wrote:

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Yep, injury bug just took a big bite!!!! Begin might need surgery to repair his Knee. No date has been set though. This is really not good, Begin is the perfect guy for the playoffs! www.rds.ca

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Another good reason why Downey should have beaten the crap out of Ken Klee after he highsticked Begin!

From TSN.ca

 

MONTREAL (CP) - The Montreal Canadiens received some good news Tuesday when they learned that injured forward Steve Begin could be back for the first round of the playoffs.

However, Canadiens head coach Bob Gainey could not give a specific timeline for his return.

"We won't see Steve in the remaining four (regular season) games that we have between now and the 18th," Gainey said after an optional workout at the Bell Centre. "I think there's a possibility that he could start the playoffs, depending on the progress he makes.

"If we see him on his skates and starting to participate in practice a week from now, then there is the possibility of him beginning the playoffs."

Begin sprained his left knee in last Saturday's 3-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils. He was in front of the net when Devils defenceman Ken Klee hit him with a stick to the face. Begin fell backward and as he went down, his left knee folded under him. 

In the past Begin has shown an ability to recover quickly from injuries, but Gainey preached prudence when asked if he could return any earlier than the playoffs.

"I don't think it's reasonable for him to be skating and feeling the way he would need to for next Tuesday," Gainey said. "But five or six days after that, which is a pretty big chunk of time, is the window that the doctors are talking about."

While Begin's name may not come up on the scoresheet that often, the 27-year-old sparkplug is an invaluable piece to the Canadiens puzzle.

He has 11 goals and 12 assists for 23 points in 76 games this season. Begin leads all Montreal forwards with 64 blocked shots, he ranks first on the team in hits with 202 and his energy on the ice is infectious.

He forms the team's top penalty-killing pairing up front with Radek Bonk, who also missed Monday's 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators with a leg injury but was one of seven players to take the ice for the optional workout.

 

 

Let's hope he's back with enough time to make it count!

-- Edited by MC Girl at 08:46, 2006-04-12