Bitetto pumped to be back

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This article was published 23/07/2020 (1923 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Anthony Bitetto was sidelined by COVID-19, but the Winnipeg Jets defenceman said Thursday he barely felt a thing.

His noticeable absence from the NHL squad’s summer training camp was finally explained when he told reporters after the club’s morning practice he tested positive for the virus last month.

Bitetto, 30, tested positive at his summer home in Nashville June 24 and was in quarantine for 29 days, split between Tennessee and Winnipeg, before he was given clearance to rejoin the Jets at Bell MTS Iceplex.

The only symptom was mild shortness of breath, he said.

“There wasn’t really much to it for me. Obviously, we’re in a pandemic and a lot of people have been affected by it. I was pretty lucky with not having to deal with a lot of the more serious symptoms,” he said.

“At first, it was kind of a shock, because I felt fine the first five days. I didn’t have any symptoms. It was a weird feeling.”

The number of cases in the United States has climbed to four million, with nearly 144,000 deaths.

“I feel very lucky… I didn’t have it bad by any means,” he said. “There were days I woke up and I was completely fine and I’m like, I have this virus? How? It didn’t make sense. It was nothing like I’ve ever had. I’ve had the flu before where you feel like absolute garbage and this was not like that at all, at all. So, it was weird for me in that sense, but I’m glad I was cleared and happy to be back here.”

Bitetto didn’t skate with the Jets’ main group, joining an expanded crew of extras the Central Division squad is allowed to carry on its roster.

Winnipeg meets the Calgary Flames in a best-of-five “play-in” series in Edmonton, with Game 1 set for Aug. 1.

Bitetto, the Long Island accent as distinct as ever, said he has friends in New York who have also been diagnosed with the virus.

“I had a ton of buddies that got it, some family members that got it. So, the whole time I was being cautious… like wear a mask everywhere (and) we were ordering food from the grocery store, we weren’t going to the grocery store. And then it opened up in Nashville, and then next thing you know I got it,” said Bitetto, who chipped in eight assists in 51 games before the league shut down in March.

Bitetto might be down a ways on the blue-line depth chart but he’s a valued contributor and one of the most popular guys in the dressing room. He exudes positivity and rarely stops jabbering.

The ice is his playground and he was thrilled to return, he said.

“I barely slept last night, I was so excited to get here. When you walk into the room with the 25 or 30 guys, whatever we have here, it’s special and it’s awesome to be back,” he said. 

Head coach Paul Maurice said Bitetto’s return was a shot in the arm for the entire organization.

“He comes back in, so they’re completely comfortable with him…. he’s fun to have around. It was good to get him back on the ice. He’s in mid-season chirping form. I can tell you that. He doesn’t need a training camp to get back to being a funny guy on the ice,” said Maurice.

The Jets longtime bench boss said it didn’t take long for his initial worries to be eased.

“You’re always concerned when you first hear (about it) and then, you send (Bitetto) a text and you say you’re going to call him… and he sends me a three-page text back telling me how great he is and there’s profanity involved about how bad he wants to be at the rink,” Maurice said with a grin.

” I feel very lucky… I didn’t have it bad by any means. There were days I woke up and I was completely fine and I’m like, I have this virus? How? It didn’t make sense. It was nothing like I’ve ever had.”

“So Bittsy is OK. It’s different, right? The things that you read about in the paper, it’s serious and people have lost their lives and there are people that are asymptomatic and they don’t feel it. So, we were really fortunate and pleased that he didn’t have symptoms that made any of us too nervous.”

After too many tests to count and an eventual green light from doctors, Bitetto’s only focus now is returning to game shape.

“It’s just work as hard as I can, just work,” he said. “I haven’t done much in 30 days, so I have to get my legs going. I felt pretty good today. I was a little gassed in terms of lung-wise, but I felt pretty good, so I was happy with Day 1.” 

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell