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The Confusing Tale of Two Tyler Ennis Toronto X-Rays

There are two Tyler Ennis(s). One plays hockey now for the Ottawa Senators and the other plays basketball for the Toronto Raptors 905. How did their broken legs – both at the same time – become confused? What happened to these players?

Every once in a while, you come across a crazy article about hockey, and this one seemed especially crazy to me. The story is this. Last season, when he was playing with the Toronto Maple Leafs, forward Tyler Ennis broke his ankle when a puck hit him on the inside of his ankle during a game. When he met with the doctors to discuss the break, he was told that he had a really bad displaced break.

[To offer a bit of an explanation, in a non-displaced break, the bones are broken but still remain in correct position and alignment. In a displaced break, the broken parts of the bone are separated or misaligned. Treatment for a displaced break is based on fracture alignment and stability of the ankle. In other words, it takes lots longer to hear a displaced break.]

Related: Maple Leafs To Get Fleeced in Trade For Netminder?

Was it Displaced or Non-displaced?

Anyway, back to the story. According to TSN’s Ian Mendes, Ennis was told he had initially fractured his ankle. That he knew. But, later the news got much worse for Ennis when he was told his fracture was displaced. That meant he was looking to spend at least a year away from playing to heal and engage in lots of rehab.

As Ennis noted, “They pulled up my X-ray. And they’re like ‘Woah – you’ve got a really bad displaced break here.'” Ennis, who had been given other, less-stressful news earlier about his fracture, questioned the diagnosis. That caused the doctors to go back to verify whether the x-rays were correct.

As it happened, the x-rays were not his at all. Instead, the doctors had looked at another Tyler Ennis’ x-rays. But it wasn’t the right Tyler Ennis. Interesting enough, there was a second Tyler Ennis who had played basketball for Syracuse and who had suffered a broken leg at the same time the then-Maple Leafs center had broken his ankle.

The two x-rays had gotten confused. The one Tyler Ennis (hockey) played for the Maple Leafs. The other Tyler Ennis (basketball) was playing in Turkey and with the Los Angeles Lakers and now plays for the Raptors 905.

As Mendes asks, two Tyler Ennis(s) playing high-level sports in Toronto both with broken legs at the same time? “What are the odds?” Indeed.

Ennis noted that “They double-checked and they actually had the image from the other Tyler Ennis, who broke his leg playing basketball overseas. His break was a lot worse than mine. When they confused our X-rays, I was a little nervous. I thought my recovery was going to take a lot longer.”

The hockey Ennis, now playing with the Ottawa Senators eventually missed two months of playing time with the Maple Leafs. The other Ennis, a point guard now with the Raptors 905, missed more than a year with his injury. As noted, the basketball Ennis had played in Turkey during the 2018-19 season and had his operation there.

Related: Ottawa Senators’ Goalie Situation Becomes Temporarily Muddled with Anderson’s Injury

Planning to Meet to Swap Uniforms

The two Ennis(s) have never met, but the plan is for that soon to change. The hockey Ennis noted, “One day maybe we’ll finally meet each other.” It looks as if that might happen when the Senators visit the Maple Leafs on February 1. That afternoon, the Raptors 905 squad plays a home game in Mississauga and there will be plenty of time for the basketball-playing Ennis to make it downtown to watch the Senators.

The basketball Ennis noted, “I would love to do a jersey swap now. That would be really cool. And if he (the hockey Ennis) scores, hearing my name announced inside a hockey arena would be pretty cool.”

Good luck for all that to happen.

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