NHL concussion crisis under scrutiny
Posted Mar 3, 2011 8:57 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Researchers at Boston University say former NHL tough guy Bob Probert’s brain showed signs of a condition called CTE, more than likely caused by hits to the head.
Otherwise known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, it presents itself as proteins that impair the functioning of cells, eventually killing them altogether.
Symptoms can include memory loss, erratic behaviour, lack of impulse control, depression and in more serious cases it can lead to cases of dementia or Alzheimer’s.
Probert died last summer after his heart gave out while on a fishing trip with his family.
Calgary Sun Sports Columnist and Jack FM Morning Show Co-host Eric Francis tells 660News this may finally get the message through to some players.
“It’s amazing that the media and the fans and everybody outside of the game realizes that hits to the head are more dangerous than we ever thought before, but the players still continue to hit guys in the head first,” says Francis. “It just blows my mind, and apparently the players’ minds too.”
He says he doesn’t expect much to change immediately, adding that this isn’t a league issue.
“They’re supposed to be in a union protecting one another and yet they still go out and blast each others’ brains out, literally,” he says. “It just doesn’t make any sense at all.”
Sportsnet Radio The Fan 960’s Dean Molberg tells 660News this may be the starting point of where the NHL Players’ Association starts to take the issue more seriously.
“They don’t tend to think it’s a big issue,” he says. “I think that’s maybe going to change since we’ve seen the best player in the game, Sidney Crosby, out with a head injury and now clearly Bob Probert, some might say it’s because of the fighting but maybe it is just the wear and tear you take year after year.”
Probert played 16 seasons with the NHL, for the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks.
He’s only the second player to have his brain donated for study, after former NHL enforcer Reggie Fleming.
