Shutting Out Fear : Flyers’ Soderstrom Keeps Playing Despite a Heart Defect That Can Cause Arrhythmia

Tommy Soderstrom couldn’t understand why the Philadelphia Flyers interrupted his summer vacation to ask him such a silly question, why they were so concerned about his well-being when the season was still months away.

He had never paid much attention to basketball back home in Sweden and he had no time to follow the NBA after he came to America to play goal for the Flyers, what with learning a new league and a new language, so he had never heard of Reggie Lewis.

“But the day the Celtic player died,” Soderstrom said, “the Flyers called and asked me how I felt.”

Like Lewis, the Boston star who died last July while shooting baskets at Brandeis University, Soderstrom has a heart abnormality. Unlike Lewis, whose condition was diagnosed differently by various cardiologists, Soderstrom knows exactly what’s wrong with him.

But doctors haven’t been able to correct it, and they have tried four times since they first detected it a year ago during a routine electrocardiogram at his first NHL training camp.

Soderstrom has Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause rapid heartbeats. It is caused by an extra muscle bridge that causes the heart’s electrical system to bypass a crucial filtering mechanism. As many as five in 1,000 die each year after experiencing arrhythmia.

Doctors estimate it occurs in one in 1,000 people, and recent medical advances have made it easier to cure in most cases.

Formerly treated with medication or surgery, it can now be cured with a procedure called radio frequency catheter ablation. A catheter is used to deliver an electrical impulse that destroys the extra fiber that is causing the problem. Patients can resume their normal lives within days.

Soderstrom, however, is an exception. In his heart, the abnormal area is so close to a normal electrical pathway that doctors are reluctant to attack it again, fearing it could result in harm. So he lives with it and plays with it.

“If I die, I die, you know what I mean?” Soderstrom said. “What can you do?

“I know when the problem is coming because it (his heart) is going too fast. But I’m not having any problems with it now. It’s good now, and I don’t think about it.”

After sitting out the first two months of his rookie season while doctors tried to remedy the problem, Soderstrom played 44 games, compiling a 20-17-6 record and 3.42 goals-against average, with five shutouts. He was 4-0-2 from Jan. 3-16.

Although he is struggling this season, having lost the starting job to Dominic Roussel and having lost his two starts, it has nothing to do with his heart.

“He’s been bitten a little by the sophomore jinx, but we know he will get up to speed,” said Flyer General Manager Russ Farwell, who showed his support by signing Soderstrom to a four-year, $2.45-million contract last month. “His mental makeup is special. He doesn’t let things bother him. Pressure doesn’t seem to bother him at all.

“At one point last season he started 18 games in a row and he had no problem.”

The Flyers performed additional tests on him in training camp and watch him closely at every home game. A defibrillator is available at the Spectrum.

“Another procedure would be the only way to absolutely eliminate it, but the consensus is that it’s not necessary to do that,” said John Hartzell, the Flyers’ team physician. “There’s also substantial risk of heart block and the risk of radiation in another procedure.

“We have had a number of consultations. Tommy has been tested under game conditions and we feel there is very, very little risk to him. The condition is still there, but it has never caused him any trouble and he has played at a world-class level for years. The problem has been affected by our intervention, but not eliminated. He has extremely little risk to this.”

Soderstrom, the 214th pick in the 1990 draft, enjoys playing with numbers. He is an avid roulette player who takes a mathematical approach to beating the odds at the gaming table. “My system is that you must stay there 10 hours every day, but I can’t do that when I’m playing hockey,” he said. During the season, he takes the same approach to overcoming the daunting odds stacked against European goalies who try to make the transition to the NHL.

Although many European forwards and defensemen thrive in North America, European goalies rarely succeed here. Only one has ever won an individual NHL trophy: Soderstrom’s compatriot, Pelle Lindbergh, won the Vezina Trophy with the Flyers in 1985, but died in a car crash later that year.

“It’s a different game here because players shoot more and they shoot from all over. In Europe, they pass more until they can get a good shot,” said Bob Froese, a former NHL goalie who now coaches the New York Islanders’ goalies.

Soderstrom is still adjusting to NHL shooters and learning to be more aggressive in net.

“There’s a lot of games and they’re shooting all the time. There’s a lot more shooting here,” Soderstrom said. “I have a little problem with that in the beginning, but now I feel more comfortable. I try to adjust my style to America. I need to change little things, like I need to come out a little more and cut the angles.”

Said Soderstrom: “Last year was a big experience for me. I was in a new country and then they tell me I can’t practice for seven weeks and I need a heart operation. But now I think it was a good experience. I learned how to be patient. It was not scary, it was boring, but there was nothing I can do.

“This year training camp was tough for me, but I don’t know why. Now Dominic is playing and he’s playing good, but I am not worried. It’s a long season and no goalie will play 84 games. I must keep working, and sooner or later I’m going to play a game or two.”