by Monte Stewart
VANCOUVER, B.C. -- At last, the games count again for Willie Mitchell.Mitchell culminated a comeback from post-concussion syndrome by playing his first NHL regular-season game for the Los Angeles Kings against his old team, the Vancouver Canucks, as they opened the 2010-11 campaign at Rogers Arena.
"It's kind of ironic, my first game back .. my old team and teammates in a city that was home for me," a smiling Mitchell, 33, said after the game-day skate. "But that's kind of nice too because a lot of those people and friends were there for me throughout the journey."
Mitchell was injured in Pittsburgh in January as Penguins star Evgeni Malkin crunched him into the end boards. The league chose not to discipline Malkin for what Mitchell claimed was a check from behind. The Port McNeill, B.C., native's season -- and his tenure with the Canucks -- immediately ended.
Mitchell then spent the next seven months trying to rescue his career, missing the annual July 1 opening of free agency because he was not able to begin hard on-ice and off-ice workouts until the middle of that month. But, after proving himself healthy, he signed a two-year, $7 million contract with the Kings in late August.
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