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Former Edmonton Oilers captain Andrew Ference has been on biking excursions over 100 km this summer so his damaged hip, which needed major repair, is holding up on the trails and the open road with low impact exercise, but the defenceman hasn’t skated or run since his March surgery.

His NHL career is basically over, although there’s no official retirement.

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“What is the terminology? I have a career-ending injury,” said Ference, 37.

“That’s the way I’m looking at it.”

“I got 16 years. I don’t feel I missed out. The people close to me walk on egg-shells until I tell them it’s OK. I told my wife it’s like graduating from high school. You go to high school, have a blast, have all these great parties but by the time you get to the end of high school, you say, ‘All right, I’m ready for the next step.’ You have fond memories. If I hadn’t won a Stanley Cup (2011 in Boston), that would be tough to swallow now.”

Ference, who has a healthy life outside the hockey rink and is heavily involved in environmental issues, has his diploma from Harvard in corporate sustainability and is part of a company that gives seed money to investors of environmentally-conscious start-ups and has been heavily involved with a company Full Cycle Bioplastics which converts organic waste into biodegradable plastics.