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Spector interviews NHLPA ED Fehr talking about concussions. Seems to be taking a slow approach to situation.
Quote:
One week after the NHL's general managers had gathered in Boca Raton, Fla. to brainstorm on stemming the flow of head injuries in the game, we asked Fehr what the tangible solutions the NHLPA -- a strangely silent partner thus far in the proceedings -- could offer?
"My experience is that the only most effective way by far to get long-term, positive results, is to have the association and the league do it jointly," said Fehr, who for 26 years headed the Major League Baseball Players' Association. "To have whatever negotiations and discussions are required; to come up with programs and procedures everyone can agree with. (An agreement) everyone can buy into, everyone can have confidence in."
If it sounds like the solution won't be in the rulebook before the playoffs start next month, you're starting to get the picture.
So what does he want, to bring back rampant interference so that players don't get killed by suicide passing?
He's putting the blame in the wrong place. It's the players' responsibility to not kill each other, and when one does cross the line it's the league's responsibility to punish accordingly. As long as they let swine like Cooke get away with what they do, this problem will persist. If the problem is players hitting each other in dangerous ways, then punish them for doing it. Don't try to murder other aspects of the game in a misguided effort to stop it from happening.
This is a very appropriate post. There's lots of blame to be passed around. The equipment can certainly be improved, but what's really needed is some serious behavior modification, and some consistency from the league on disciplining players for hits to the head. The players show a real lack of respect for one another in this league. It's embarrassing. There are several players in this league whose hand I would not shake following a playoff series. I think they should get every member of the NHLPA together under one roof and let the guys look at each other in the face then try to suggest to one another, with still frames on the big screen, that they were justified in blasting one another in the head, and then provide reasoning behind it. It would never fly. I just don't know what it's going to take before this league gets it. No one can tell me you can't put an entertaining product on the ice without shots to the head.
At this point in time, the guidelines against headshots are insufficient. At the very least, the ones in place are far from being enforced. When enforced, the penalties hardly seem to fit the crime.
Recently in a couple of Hawks games, defensemen Hjalmarsson and Seabrook have taken elbows to the head. Players weren't suspended, fined, ejected, or even penalized. Not a major. Not a minor. I just do NOT understand.
Anyone hazard to create a list of the top end talent that's missed significant time in the last several years from concussions? It's amazing. It's ending careers prematurely, and depriving the fans of enjoying a lot of talented individuals. It's altering the course of hockey history...and it doesn't have to.
Study: Duerson had brain damage at time of suicide
By HOWARD ULMAN, AP Sports Writer May 2, 6:35 pm EDT
BOSTON (AP)—Dave Duerson, a former NFL player who committed suicide in February, had “moderately advanced” brain damage related to blows to the head, according to the researcher who made the diagnosis.
“It’s indisputable” that Duerson had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disorder linked to repeated brain trauma, Dr. Ann McKee said Monday.
The findings were announced as part of an effort conducted by the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University’s School of Medicine. The CSTE Brain Bank has the brains of more than 70 athletes and military veterans, with football players comprising more than half of the athletes.
Duerson played safety in the NFL for 11 seasons, seven with the Chicago Bears, and was chosen for four Pro Bowls before retiring in 1993.
“Dave Duerson had classic pathology of CTE and no evidence of any other disease,” McKee said, “and he has severe involvement of all the (brain) structures that affect things like judgment, inhibition, impulse control, mood and memory.”
The body of Duerson, who was 50, was found in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., on Feb. 17. He left a note asking that his brain be given to the NFL’s Brain Bank. He shot himself in the chest, “presumably” to preserve his brain for study, said Chris Nowinski, co-director of the CSTE.
The other co-directors are McKee, Dr. Robert Cantu and Dr. Robert Stern.
Duerson’s case was “moderately advanced,” McKee said. “The likelihood is that if he hadn’t had the CTE, he wouldn’t have developed those symptoms that he was experiencing at the end of his life and perhaps he wouldn’t have been compelled to end his life.”
Mirtle interviews researcher from organization that just partnered with NHL alumni association.
Quote:
Q: Do you have any idea what you might find in closely examining former players' brains?
BL: A lot of times we do a study and we have a hypothesis, we have a really strong idea of what we're going to find. I'm characterizing this as more of an exploratory study. We have a pretty good idea of the factors involved in brain health. We don't know how they all interact.
Diet, exercise, taking care of yourself, stress, all of those things affect brain health. We know that head injuries are related to brain health, especially as they relate to aging. We know that genetics is related to brain health. There's now recent research showing that there are certain genes that increase the chance of getting dementia if you've had a head injury. They interact. So the risk is even greater.
This is an opportunity for us to put all of these things together in a set of high-performance athletes and analyze all of these factors together. Q: Some of the NHL Alumni seem skeptical that head injuries are tied to developing dementia and other later issues. What do you think the study might show?
BL: As a scientist, we leave our expectations and our biases at the door. Our goal really is to get at the best version or the closest to the truth as possible. I know that there is skepticism [from some players]. There’s also groups that say there is a connection.
We try to answer the question as best we can without any kind of preconception or bias. That's why we're being very comprehensive in our testing. One hypothesis is that if you've been banged around a lot and knocked out a few times, it might affect your brain health in the future. Well, there's some evidence to support that and there's some case studies out there that are very dramatic that we've heard about.
But not everyone that gets dementia has had a head injury in their past. So we really want to get the full range of factors.
Several former players saying the NHL is not following it's new concussion protocol in the playoffs. Nor are (all) guys who should be suspended for hits (in the playoffs).
Now that all this information is available I think the league is going to have to change its rules or face legal ramnifications in the short-term future.
Is "no hits to the head" going to be on the agenda for the next GM meetings? I remember everyone saying that the Ovechkin hit on Jagr in the Olympics was one that should remain in the game.
With regard to the Lindros article, what (if anything) can/should be done to slow the game down?
These stories are pretty harrowing...and makes one really think about what the game should look like.
Savard (who has had several)
Bergeron's 3rd
Krejci's 2nd
Kampfer got one too and he has had a severe concussion before
Maybe others but I can't remember them.
Last year Sobotka had one, Savard obviously had one and I'm sure there were others.
With such a strong emphasis on "finishing checks" these are the unfortunate results. It seems inevitable that more concussions will follow for guys like Krejci and Crosby because they have the puck and are targeted. The players sometimes don't seem too interested in getting the puck. They are more interested in annihilating each other.
Savard (who has had several)
Bergeron's 3rd
Krejci's 2nd
Kampfer got one too and he has had a severe concussion before
Maybe others but I can't remember them.
Last year Sobotka had one, Savard obviously had one and I'm sure there were others.
With such a strong emphasis on "finishing checks" these are the unfortunate results. It seems inevitable that more concussions will follow for guys like Krejci and Crosby because they have the puck and are targeted. The players sometimes don't seem too interested in getting the puck. They are more interested in annihilating each other.
The emphasis on the big hit is glorified in advertising the game. Watch for the hit of the game. Violence in the game overall should be toned down a notch or two.
Question: When did this big emphasis on "finishing checks" begin?
I look at old NHL games and don't see it as a big part of the game. Is it a Don Cherryism? Checking someone was to separate the man from the puck but it has evolved into something entirely different. Often it is an intimidation tactic.
The other saying "willing to take a hit to make a play" who started that? Basically it's saying the player has to be willing to possibly get injured if he touches the puck. I cringe watching some of these hits. We are losing some of our best players by accepting this. Accidental is one thing but intentional is another.
I'd prefer to watch hockey without intentional head hits, without intentional checks causing heads bouncing off the glass, without intentional fighting which results in head hits or the falls with heads bouncing off the ice.
I'm curious if Boogaard's concussion played any part in his passing. RIP Teddy Bear.
Boogaard was a brawler on the ice but otherwise selfless and gentle enough to be described as a "teddy bear" by his sister Krysten during a fan-inspired memorial Sunday. He suffered a season-ending concussion Dec. 9, at least his fourth. He may have suffered others before awareness was raised in the hockey world about the symptoms and risks of head injuries, an educational process that's plodding along.
It's too early to speculate whether that last concussion contributed to his death. Salcer said Boogaard "was feeling good about things," [about his client who had discussed business and shared dinner with his family two days before he was discovered unconcious] and the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Boogaard had told friends he was eager to work hard this summer and resume his career.
But Boogaard and his family wondered enough about the effects of those blows to the head to consider donating his brain to Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, whose researchers announced in March they had found evidence of degenerative disease in the brain of former NHL enforcer Bob Probert.
Did they say what he was taking the oxycodone for? I know it's a pain medication, but was it for the concussion or was it for the shoulder or some other injury?
Some clarifications on the NHL concussion procedure. The time is not "15 minutes" but however long it takes the test to take. And the quiet room is often the trainer's room or changing room - somewhere away from the distractions of the bench/game.
Hockey Canada adopts zero tolerance rule on head shots.
Quote:
Delegates from across the country voted Saturday at the national governing body's annual general meeting in Calgary to approve "zero tolerance measures for all head contact or checks in minor, female, junior and senior hockey," according to a release.
The new rules call for a minor penalty to be assessed for "all accidental hits to the head" in minor and female hockey. For intentional contact to the head, a double minor or a major and a game misconduct may be levied at the discretion of the referee based on "the degree of violence of impact."
They have instituted Rule 48. They have the new suspected-concussion protocol (quiet room, etc.).
What more would you like to see the league do?
Ok, LadyStanley, I direct this question at you (because honestly I don't wish to personally categorize the League as something that it may not be)... If significant number of concussions continues to occur in the League, what more can be done? Or should the League just come out and say that it's one of the unforetunately common risks of playing this sport?
