This post is part of a series looking at the issue and impact of concussions in the NHL. ProHockeyTalk and Comcast SportsNet are featuring pieces today as a lead-in to tonight’s special edition of NHL Live on Versus (6:30 p.m. EST.)
Concussions are hardly a new phenomenon in the NHL. As such, we decided to look back at what’s been said and written on the topic of head injuries throughout the years.
(NHL.com)
“My first season Butch Bouchard accidentally sent me to the hospital for three days with a concussion, but I never backed away from Butch or anyone else after I came back.” – former Red Wings player Ted Lindsay (Sports Illustrated, March 18, 1957)
“As a result of [a] concussion, I now wear a protector on the back of my head, too.” – former NHL goalie and current Carolina GM Jim Rutherford (Sports Illustrated, Feb 12, 1973.)
“Three times it happened and I was never asked any questions. The question was ‘are you OK?’ Yeah, I’m OK. Well, get back out there.’ That was the way it was handled back then.” -- former NHL player Mike Bossy on how concussions were treated in the 1970s and 1980s (Brockville Recorder and Times, Sep 28, 2011)
(Getty)
“I would walk into a room, and he would be crying. He cried a lot. Or he would be holding his head from the migraine headaches. They were terrible. He wouldn’t leave the house for a week. He wouldn’t change his clothes, wouldn’t shower. It was all the classic signs of depression. I thought he was having a nervous breakdown.” -- former NHL player Pat LaFontaine’s wife, Marybeth (Sports Illustrated, Dec 1, 1997)
“Every time you sustain a head injury, the risk gets higher and higher. I always said that if there ever was a point where the risk was more than minimal, I would stop playing.” -- LaFontaine upon his retirement (Chicago Tribune, Aug 12, 1998)
“I’ve been fortunate. I’ve had no residual effects whatsoever. I got out just in time.” – LaFontaine (Sports Illustrated, Nov 29, 2004)
''Force equals mass times acceleration. The larger the mass, the faster the acceleration, the greater the force. The greater the force, the greater the potential for injury. If the forces are going up, common sense would tell you that the potential for injury is increasing unless you decrease the risk for whatever reason. Unless you can decrease the force or absorb the force, chances are your injury rates are going to go up.’' – Penguins physician Dr. Gordon Burke (New York Times, March 22, 1998)
“I was well-rounded, I’d been to college. It wasn’t that I couldn’t do anything else. I wanted to stay in sports, but if I couldn’t think, how was I going to play?” – Paul Kariya on worrying about how his brain was functioning while experiencing post-concussion syndrome (Sports Illustrated, Oct 19, 1998)
“At our scouting meetings, when we finalize the list [of potential draftees], I specifically ask our scouts, ‘Anybody on the list with a history of concussions?’” – Pierre Gauthier, then Anaheim’s GM (Sports Illustrated, May 17, 1999)
“Having these concussions hanging over him has to be scary for Eric.” – former Flyers coach Roger Neilson on Eric Lindros (Sports Illustrated, Jan 31, 2000)
“What scares me is how easily it happened,” former Flyers forward Mark Recchi on yet another Lindros concussion (Sports Illustrated, Jan 31, 2000)
“I might have practiced stick-handling with my head up a bit more.” – Lindros, upon retirement, joking about what he’d do differently if he could start his career over (Toronto Star, Nov 9, 2007)
“Once the game is gone it doesn’t mean that your concussion symptoms are gone. You still have a long life you need to live, and I’m living proof of that.” – former NHL player Keith Primeau (Yahoo! Sports, Dec. 16, 2011)
“We can no longer ignore the stupidity of the hits that are still happening today despite the fact that the players know the concussion aspect is such a big part of the game and sports in general.” – former NHL player Jeremy Roenick (NHL.com, Dec 14, 2011)
(AP)|
“It was the kind of light blow that is exchanged without notice or consequence hundreds of times in a game.” – former NHL goalie Ken Dryden on David Krejci’s hit that likely led to Sidney Crosby’s latest setback (Grantland, Dec 14, 2011)
“It didn’t feel like it was anything too major, but if you had to look at one hit that would be it.” – Crosby on the Krejci hit (CSNNE.com, Dec 14, 2011)
“I think you always have them in the back of your head. You always have it sitting there. You never know going into a hit or anything, you could have another concussion. It does get scary.” – Chicago forward Dave Bolland (CSNChicago.com, Dec 16, 2011)
“Any time you see somebody have to deal with a career-threatening thing, it really does concern you. You think about his family and what it’s like for them, what they’re going through.” – Penguins forward Chris Kunitz on news that Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger would miss the rest of the season with a concussion (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Dec. 16, 2011)
“He didn’t tell the trainer he had his bell rung. He kept it from us. Now he’ll be out for however long it takes.” – Leafs coach Ron Wilson on Colby Armstrong hiding his concussion from the team (Globe and Mail, Dec. 19, 2011)
