Hossa upset, ‘still not feeling like myself'

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Marian Hossa is recovering from the concussion-inducing hit Phoenix forward Raffi Torres put on him last month, but the Blackhawks forward said he's "still not feeling like myself."

Hossa is back in his native Slovakia for the summer, as he recovers from the hit that cost him the rest of the playoffs and led to Torres' 25-game suspension that he is now appealing. Hossa said he's getting better step by step, but that the process has been a slow one.

"Let's put it this way: it's not fun," said Hossa via conference call on Thursday. "Especially the first few days (I was) sitting in a dark room and one week sleeping at home. That wasn't fun. The good thing is I can move around now and things are bothering me less than before. So that's a good sign. It's small steps."

Hossa doesn't remember the hit itself. He remembers trying to make a play just before it, he remembers a little bit about being in the ambulance and then his time at the hospital.

"I saw the replay a few days later and that's basically how I remembered," said Hossa.

Hossa said he did hear from Torres a few days after the hit; the phone call was brief, and Hossa did tell the Coyotes forward what he thought.

"I told him I was upset about the jump. If he wouldn't jump, maybe I'm hit but he wouldn't hit my head and he wouldn't (be suspended) 25 games," Hossa said. "The phone call was pretty quick and that was it."

Hossa's doing daily activities now and has some time here before he would normally start training for hockey season. He hopes to be ready in time for 2012-13, but he said right now it's tough to set a timetable on when he can begin training.

"It all depends. I'll take a month and not do anything and then I'll slowly do little things, maybe some biking. I'll talk to the trainers and take it step by step. It's a long time until training camp and I have a long time to recover, so I have a lot of time in front of me," said Hossa, who is still upset with the hit.

"It made me angry," he said. "I don't want to see this stuff in hockey."

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