Iron Man Record

On Tuesday night, the Colorado Avalanche faced the Florida Panthers. But it was more than a just a regular game for Colorado defenseman Karlis Skrastins. He was playing his 486th straight game, tying legend Tim Horton for the the longest consecutive games played record by a defenseman .

He began this run all the way back in 2000 when he was playing as a rookie for the Nashville Predators. Since that season he has never been injured or scratched for a game! The amazing thing about this accomplishment is that he is a good defenseman. He blocks shots, does the dirty work in the corners and always contributes. To not get injured is either a complete stroke of luck throughout 486 straight games, or his body is just amazingly fit.

Skrastins was drafted 230th in 1998 by the Predators. He played 5 seasons for the Predators. During the 2003 offseason he was traded to the Colorado Avalanche He hasn't missed a game with the Avalanche franchise to date. He has 81 career points. In international play, Skrastins has played in 7 World Championships and has played in 2 Winter Olympics. The only game he has ever missed was against St.Louis on February, 18th, 2000.

On Thursday, Skrastins will be able to take the record from Horton, but if he wants to break the all time record, than he just might have to take it easy on the ice. Doug Jarvis holds the all time record of consecutive games with an amazing 964 straight games. That's 478 games ahead of Skrastins! That doesn't matter how far away he is from Jarvis, who knows, maybe he'll catch Jarvis. But let's just let him enjoy it for now. So no matter what his secret is, he will go down as one the NHL's great iron men.