Braden Pettinger was playing hockey for the Portage Terriers in Winnipeg at the MTS Iceplex two years ago when he was tragically injured and became paralyzed from the chest down.

Now, Pettinger says after doing rehabilitation five days a week in Regina, he's starting to see some hopeful improvements on his road to recovery.

"Just in the last couple weeks here...," Pettinger says. "I don't want to say too much because you never know with this kind of injury, one day you'll be able to do something and the next day you won't be able to do it. You just have to keep working at it... But yeah, I'm gaining some positive signals in my legs and my core. So, it's really good to see. It's really encouraging." 

After fracturing his C5 vertebra in several places from falling into the boards during his first Terriers game, Pettinger was told he'd never walk again. However, he keeps optimistic that he will get out of his wheelchair one day.

He says the support from the Portage community has been abundant and really helpful.

"The support I've been getting from everywhere including Portage has just been amazing, I can't say thanks enough to Portage. The community, the Terriers and everybody involved there... its been a pretty crazy road the last couple of years but it's looking up," says Pettinger.

Pettinger notes everyone at First Steps Wellness Centre is great to work with, but says rehab can be a bit taxing.

"Going there every day, day after day...just the grind of it. It's almost more mentally exhausting than physically exhausting," Pettinger admits.

Though he's not walking yet, Pettinger says he wants to get back to the hockey community in either a coaching or developmental role.

"Just watching the game, I really want to get involved again. It seems I enjoy watching hockey a lot more now than I did than before my injury. So, it's kind of interesting," Pettinger adds.

He says all of the support continues, and he still gets encouraging comments from the community about how he's doing, which he says he's grateful for.