Ice Hockey: Time right to stop playing.

(From The Journal)

CHOOSING when to retire is the toughest decision most sportsmen have to make.

Some try to go out with their pride intact, others their bodies, while some seek to delay the moment when they wake up wondering what to do next, writes STUART RAYNER.

Rob Wilson does not need telling how difficult a decision it can be, having made it twice. But the Vipers' player-coach insists this time he had no choice. This time there will definitely be no going back.

It was 2007 when Wilson (pictured) first decided to drop the word "player" from his job description. Time, and a bad back, had caught up with the Canadian but a mid-season injury crisis forced a rethink and the financial realities of the Elite League kept him on the ice. As a co-owner of the Vipers, Wilson gritted his teeth and played through the pain.

This Christmas he has had to admit defeat and while he hopes to contribute to the final months of the season, it will be his last as a professional ice hockey player. "I've been trying to do it for the last couple of years but I've been unable to,"says the Canadian. "My back's so bad it's definitely the right time.

"I talked to Jaimie (Longmuir, the club's general manager) and Paul (Ferone, Wilson's co-owner) and there was no question this had to stop at any cost. I probably came to the decision about six or seven weeks ago. I don't want to not be able to walk ten years from now trying to do the right thing for the club."