Dr. Robert Cantu has explained, perhaps clearer than anything else I have read, the relationship between young athletes and concussions.
In his weekly hockey notes, Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe leads with hockey and concussions.
As Shinzawa writes, Dr. Cantu, a co-director of Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, says that younger brains are not as myelinated, meaning they have less insulation than brains of adults. Also, boys’ necks are weaker than those of adults. Their heads are disproportionately large for their bodies.
“That sets up a younger person to have injuries to the brain that are greater than those sustained at a later age from the same force,’’ Dr. Cantu said. “It takes more force later on to produce the same injury.
“It’s important not to have a head injury at any age. It’s particularly important not to have it at a young age. Fighting is certainly to be discouraged, especially at young ages, for those reasons.’’
This really is serious stuff, and don’t think for a moment that signs are pointing away from fighting as being problematic.
“Presumably,” Dr. Cantu told Shinzawa, “those people were asymptomatic when they died. Presumably, had they lived into adulthood, the early-onset CTE would have progressed. At some point in life, they would have been symptomatic.
“For those with CTE early in life that can cause symptoms later in life, we have no idea of the prevalence of that right now. It’s beginning to be studied.’’
Dr. Cantu pulled no punches in stating that “no head trauma is good head trauma.”
“Avoid all head trauma that you can avoid,” he added. “If that means practising less, practise less. Don’t go out seeking fights. It’s not good to get hit in the head.
“Secondly, if you’re going to play a sport that’s at high risk for head injury like the collision sports — hockey, football, lacrosse — you better have a passion for that sport. Or I would recommend you not play it.’’
Shinzawa’s complete notebook is right here.
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A big story in Canada today will deal with the Canadian Paediatric Society and American Academy of Pediatrics recommending that children and teenagers not be allowed to take part in boxing.
While today’s story centres on boxing, Dr. Claire LeBlanc, one of the authors of a statement that will get considerable play today, says that the CPS “will be making a statement” on youth hockey in the future.
For more, check out this story right here.
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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Wacey Rabbit (Saskatoon, Vancouver, 2001-07) was released by Jesenice (Slovenia, Austria Erste Bank Liga).
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JUST NOTES: The Tri-City Americans have signed F Justin Gutierrez. The 6-foot-3, 175-pounder will turn 16 in December. He is from Anchorage, Alaska, and is the younger brother of Moises Gutierrez (Kamloops, Everett, 2002-07). . . . The Swift Current Broncos released G Derek Tendler, 19, on Sunday. The Regina native had brief stints with the Regina Pats and Vancouver Giants, as well as the Broncos. Swift Current dealt a 2011 sixth-round bantam draft pick to Vancouver for Tendler in October 2010. Since 2008, he has appeared in only 22 WHL games. . . . According to Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald, F Manraj Hayer, 19, of the Everett Silvertips has a broken fibula so will be out for a couple of months. He had 12 points in 61 games as a freshman last season. . . .
The Spokane Chiefs had 2,787 fans watch their intrasquad game Sunday, with Team Red beating Team White, 4-3. . . . Spokane head coach Don Nachbaur told Dave Trimmer of the Spokane Spokesman-Review that sophomore F Darren Kramer is “having a hell of a camp.” Kramer, who led the WHL in fights last season, was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the NHL’s 2011 draft. “He’s played hard since the start of camp,” Nachbaur continued. “His passion shows every time he steps on the ice. He scored five goals in one game. I think he scored in every scrimmage. . . . He came in great shape with a great attitude and he portrayed that every time he stepped on the ice. That’s not to say the other guys didn’t but he stood out, he stood out like a sore thumb.”
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The Red Deer Rebels are hoping that Czech G Patrik Bartosak, who was selected in the 2011 CHL import draft, will be their starter this season. The 18-year-old Bartosak hopes so, too.
“The WHL is very good league and in Czech Republic there was no future,” Bartosak told Greg Meachem, the Red Deer Advocate’s sports editor, on Sunday.
Despite being passed over in the NHL’s 2011 draft, Bartosak has his sights set on an NHL career.
“The NHL is my dream from the start. I want to be picked in the NHL draft,” he told Meachem.
And what does he think of the hockey he witnessed early in the Rebels’ camp?
“The hockey is really fast, faster than in Czech Republic,” he said. “The rink is smaller so everything is fast and the players shoot from every angle.”
Check out the Advocate’s Rebels Central page right here.
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G Tyler Bunz of the Medicine Hat Tigers is blogging, at least through training camp, and it's worth a look. You are able to follow him right here.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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Segal moving on

MARK SEGAL

G Mark Segal won’t be returning for his 20-year-old season with the Vancouver Giants.
Segal has informed the Giants that he is leaving to attend McGill University in Montreal, where he will play for the Redmen.
Segal, a Vancouverite who turns 20 on Aug. 31, played in 91 regular-season and 20 playoff games with the Giants over the last two seasons. This season, he went 27-18-4, 3.07, .891 in 55 games.
Brendan Jensen, an 18-year-old from El Granada, Calif., played in 30 games with the Giants, going 8-13-1 in support of Segal.
The Giants’ website shows three goaltenders on their list who are eligible to play in 2011-12 — Jackson Whistle, who turns 16 on June 9, of Kelowna; Scott legault, who will be 17 on Sept. 25; and, Stephen Heslop, who turns 16 on Sept. 15, of Victoria.
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Today’s good read comes from Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News.
It’s almost a week old, but I just discovered it Sunday morning.
Yes, it is about pro hockey and the impact of concussions.
Gleason leads with the difficulties faced by former NHL tough guy Matthew Barnaby, who now wonders how badly he damaged his brain during this playing career and whether that is the reason for the changes he has noticed in his personality.
It isn’t all about Barnaby, though. At one point, Dr. Robert Cantu is quoted on the subject of former Buffalo Bills great O.J. Simpson:
"There's a brain I would love to study. I don't know, but I really wonder. With his inability to handle frustrating circumstances, violence and all that stuff, it could be.
"It's hard to know. I'm not suggesting I know the answer, but if and when the time comes I would give anything for him to be on our registry."
Dr. Cantu is a clinical professor neurosurgery at Boston University School of Medicine, which is home to Sports Legacy Institute, where a lot of the research into CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) is taking place.
Pour yourself a cup of coffee and sit down for today’s good read. It’s long and worthwhile. And it’s right here.
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THE COACHING GAME: Wanting experience as a head coach, former WHLer Brad McCrimmon, 52, has signed on with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League. McCrimmon, an all-star defenceman with the Brandon Wheat Kings (1976-79) and the head coach of the Saskatoon Blades (1998-2000), was an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings for the last three seasons. . . . Cole Zahn has signed on as assistant coach with the SJHL’s Estevan Bruins. Keith Cassidy, the Bruins’ new GM/head coach, worked together on the coaching staff of the MJHL’s Selkirk Steelers and got that squad to the RBC Cup in 2007. Zahn will continue to scout for the Vancouver Giants. . . . Ron Holloway, the head coach of the junior B Ochapowace Thunder of the Prairie Junior league, has signed on as an assistant coach with the SJHL’s La Ronge Ice Wolves. He will work alongside head man Bob Beatty as the Ice Wolves chase a third straight SJHL championship.
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F Byron Froese, who turned 20 on March 12, has signed a three-year deal with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks. Capgeek.com reports that his salaries will be US$67,500 in the AHL and $590,000 in the NHL. . . . He got a $195,000 signing bonus over three years. . . . Froese was selected in the fourth round of the 2009 NHL draft off the Everett Silvertips’ roster. They traded him to the Red Deer Rebels last summer for F Landon Ferraro.
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Michael Traikos of the National Post writes about the week that was at the Memorial Cup. The headline sums it up: Memorial Cup a flop everywhere but the box office. . . . Of course, the CHL knew that would happen when it awarded the tournament to Mississauga, which makes one ask: Why did they award it to Mississauga? . . . That piece is right here.
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You have to feel good for G Jacob DeSerres, who backstopped the QMJHL-champion Saint John Sea Dogs to a 3-1 victory over the host Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors in the final game of the Memorial Cup on Sunday evening. . . . DeSerres, who played in the Memorial Cup with the host Brandon Wheat Kings a year ago and then was waived through the WHL, stopped 34 shots in what was his final game of major junior hockey. . . . He wasn’t named to the tournament all-star team, nor was he selected as the tournament’s top goaltender. No matter, though. He got the ring. . . . The Sea Dogs, the CHL’s top-ranked team through much of the regular season, are the first team from the Maritimes to win major junior hockey’s top prize.
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By the way, a fan of the Portland Winterhawks has a request: Would members of the media please stop referring to the Memorial Cup as a national championship. . . . There are eight Americans teams in the CHL so, as this fan points out, it is more than a national championship. . . . The fan asks: “Had Portland somehow advanced and won the Cup this year, would the Winterhawks have been national champions of Canada . . . or the U.S.?”
Joe Fan has a point, eh? 
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Dave Cameron, Mississauga’s head coach, and Majors’ captain Casey Cizikas have suffered three heart-breaking losses in a five-month period. . . . Both were on Canada’s national junior team when it surrendered a 3-0 lead and lost 5-3 to Russia in the championship game at the World Junior Championship in Buffalo in January. . . . The Majors lost the OHL championship series in seven games to the Owen Sound Attack. Mississauga held 2-0 and 3-2 leads in that series, then lost Game 7 in OT. "They say losing toughens you," Cameron said Sunday night. "Well, right now, I feel like a 10-cent steak, to tell you the truth.” . . . Cameron is almost certain to land on the coaching staff of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. Eugene Melnyk, who owns the Senators, also owns the St. Michael’s Majors.

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