On his worst days, Mark Madsen bubbles with enough enthusiasm to power an Edison grid. So you only can imagine the way he lit up Friday when he was cleared to resume practice, two weeks ahead of schedule.
"I'm excited, yeah," Madsen said Saturday, a huge grin pasted across his face. "I can't believe it's happening this quick. I'm really excited. ... It was like Christmas Day yesterday."

Dr. Norman Zemmel declared Madsen's left wrist to be sound and gave him the go-ahead to practice starting Wednesday. Madsen had surgery on the wrist in early July and had expected to miss the season opener.