For years the scariest play in hockey was that check or push on a player positioned three feet from the boards and unable to defend himself.
Still that is a concern, but the times have now changed and although the thought of a player being paralyzed from a check from behind terrifies hockey players, it is brain injury that scares most now.
This week the result of the Hockey Concussion Education Project were made known in Ontario. Last season, two junior hockey teams were followed and track throughout the season to learn more about concussions in the game.
In the 52 games observed by the project, 21 concussions to 17 players were either reported by the physician or self-reported. The rate of 21.5 concussions per 1,000 is seven times higher than any previous study had reported.
Another discovery, which shouldn't be much of a shock, is that 80 per cent were deemed purposeful and not accidental or incidental concussions.
So we know there are head shots happening. Every hockey fan, at one point or another, has watched a player try to go off the ice after a head shot, looking like Bambi learning to walk.
When I asked a nurse at the Battleford Union Hospital about concussions, she said the best thing for concussion is to rest, avoid contact sports and monitor the person who received the concussion. If they can go 72 hours without headaches, dizziness, signs of confusion, trouble concentrating and unequal pupils then they likely received a mild concussion and shouldn't take too long to return to their sport or regular life.
There are those on the other end who return to hockey too soon and it costs them. Look at Ian Laperriere, who admitted on national television Monday he returned to hockey too soon and is now paying for it. Marc Savard is another on the current list on NHLers missing time with a brain injury. As of Tuesday morning, TSN.ca listed 14 players of the 30 NHL teams on injured reserve with a concussion, post concussion symptoms or concussion-like symptoms. Since Brett Lindros retired in 1996 due to concussions, the number of players retiring for the same reason is close to 40.
Lapperriere said his focus now isn't on getting back into the NHL. If that is his future, great, but for now he is focusing on getting better and getting back to living his life.
If you thought the haunted houses on the weekend were scary, what about the number of players getting knocked out and that lifestyle that comes with it in the following weeks?
That scare me as well as when I texted a friend three weeks ago and ask how his CIS hockey season is going. His reply, "Not bad, but I think I got another concussion last night," is the real scary thing everyone in hockey has to be concerned with.
Injuries are going to happen, it is a part of sports and a part of life, but this needs to be fixed.
The most common solution for any injury is rest - just think how hard it would be to rest your brain. Work and school could be out of the question until you recover. You sit at home and wait for the headaches to go away. Athletes can't train because that could damage their vulnerable brains. You can simply sleep, watch a little TV and hope tomorrow is better.
Connecting the concussion issue to the local level, former North Star Jared Keller is dealing with post-concussion symptoms. After his second major concussion in two seasons, Keller has been held off the ice for nearly a month and just this week was back in class to try to catch up with is schoolwork. He has travelled around seeing doctors and talking to trainers with optimism, hoping he will be able to return to the lineup sporting the C on his jersey and playing in his final year of hockey at St. Lawrence University.
Coming into the season after a cautious summer, Keller felt he was ready to play this season and likely would be if not for the fluke head injury he suffered in the season opener. He switched to a different helmet following his concussion last season at the request of the coach and he was hoping his concussion issues were gone. Unfortunately that wasn't the case and that might be the scariness thing. You know you can't do much about it. Doctors, who have studied the injury for years, are still puzzled with what they see at times and often you can't avoid it.
The research is done, now it is time to implement the new helmets and continue the technology and enforce stricter rules. But maybe even more important, get respect back for the players. Checking to the head has been implemented at the minor hockey level for a few seasons now and the NHL has focused on blindside head shots this season, but it still doesn't seem to eliminate the concussions.
We don't want hockey players turning into old boxers. I don't think it is just me - Mohammed Ali's life doesn't look too intriguing right now.
Eric Lindros, Pat LaFontaine and Keith Primeau had their careers cut short and, before it gets to be too late for the future stars, there needs to be a solution and this isn't something that can take decades to find. They need to deal with concussion now.
The "they" I mention includes players, parents, trainers, coaches, management and doctors. Everyone has to take a responsibility to get concussions under control.
"You hate to say it, but eventually there's going to be a fatality in this game," said former NHLer Jeff Beukeboom three years ago after his hockey career ended because of post-concussion symptoms.
Players who have received a concussion are starting to have more knowledge and not rush back into action, but still there is the pressure to, "Toughen up."
Once everyone understands concussions aren't like broken bones that can be healed in a cast, the hockey world might be closer to solving the brain injury problem and careers won't be ruined.
