Serious read on hockey enforcers and brain damage

welch · Post by **welch** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 8:42 pm

Here are three articles from the NY Times that take us into to the world of the NHL enforcer, by examining the life and death of Derek Boogaard. I have never liked hockey fights, but did not know it was this bad.

Had Boogaard not died of pain-killers plus alcohol, he would have suffered dementia by middle age. He had had that many concussions.

How can this be fixed? Make a fight the equivalent of a soccer red-card: team goes down a man, and the fighter is out of this game plus the next. Second fight? Out two games. And the team cannot replace the fighter on their roster, so they can't just cycle in a stream of goons from the minors.

Part 1: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/sport ... l?_r=1&hpw

Part 2: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/sport ... e-ice.html

Part 3: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/sport ... g-bad.html

welch · Post by **welch** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 8:16 am

From the Post on Sidney Crosby's concussion, 12/28/11

Sidney Crosby, who has not played since Dec. 5 and has not resumed skating, continues to have concussion symptoms, his coach said today.

Crosby is doing light workouts, Pittsburgh Penguins Coach Dan Bylsma said in the first update on Crosby since his comments Dec. 12. At that time, Crosby said he had headaches and other symptoms but had passed a neurocognitive test.

Crosby missed nearly 10 months of action after being diagnosed with a concussion Jan. 6. He returned for the Penguins on Nov. 21 and played in eight games before his latest episode.

welch · Post by **welch** » Wed Jan 04, 2012 10:16 pm

This could be posted under "Caps" news, but Calgary's Rene Bourque hit Niklas Backstrom in the head, forcing Backstrom from the game and leaving Backstrom with a possible concussion.

Given the brain damage to Bogaard and the lingering damage to Crosby, I think Bourque should get about a 25 game suspension. Double that for his next hit to the head.

Given what I pay to see a hockey game, I want to see guys like Crosby and Backstom play. That's personal fan-greed.

Given the massive harm that repeated concussions have on players, I want plays like Bourque's to be so heavily penalized that nobody thinks of slugging somebody in the head.

Oh, and examine Don Cherry, because he seems demented, and has seemed it for about 20 years.