T-Birds, 'Canes win openers ... Estephan, Bear opening-night stars ... CTE found in ex-juniors

The Kelowna Rockets opened the Western Conference final against the host Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, Wash., last night without D Cal Foote, who will be a first-round selection in the NHL’s 2017 draft. He was completing a three-game WHL suspension. . . . The Rockets also were missing D Braydyn Chizen, who is out with a leg injury suffered in the previous round against the Portland Winterhawks. . . . Minus those two veterans, the Rockets had two young defencemen in the lineup — Kaedan Korczak, who turned 16 on Jan. 29, and Konrad Belcourt, who will be 17 on May 4. . . . F Erik Gardiner, who also was injured against Portland, was back in Kelowna’s lineup.
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 As expected, G Carl Stankowski, who turned 17 on March 9, made his ninth straight start for the Thunderbirds. He has played every one of Seattle’s playoff games with G Rylan Toth, 20, out with an undisclosed injury.
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 Just a thought: If the Thunderbirds play in Kent, shouldn’t they be the Kent Thunderbirds? Or will the Thunderbirds move back to Seattle if/when the big city gets an NHL-type facility?
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 Doug Weight, the head coach of the NHL’s New York Islanders, was in attendance at the game in Kent. The Islanders selected Seattle F Mathew Barzal in the first round of the 2015 NHL draft. Barzal started this season with the Islanders before eventually being returned to Seattle.
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 In Regina, the Lethbridge Hurricanes had two of their five injured regulars back for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference against the host Pats. F Zak Zborosky and F Zane Franklin returned, but F Matt Alfaro, F Ryan Vandervlis and D Calen Addison remain out.
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#Regina #Pats captain Adam Brooks is at the bottom of a scrum his first shift back from injury. #WHL. pic.twitter.com/p0V54uaTpe — Darren Steinke (@StanksSports) April 22, 2017

The Pats were without D Dawson Davidson, who was acquired from the Kamloops Blazers in January. He was injured in Game 7 against the Swift Current Broncos. John Paddock, the team’s GM/head coach, has said Davidson will be out for a while. . . . Regina had F Adam Brooks, its captain, in the lineup and he played after missing the previous five games. He suffered a knee injury in Game 2 against the Broncos. He was in uniform for the last three games of that serious, but never got on the ice. Last night, Brooks took his first shift shortly after the Pats had taken an early 1-0 lead. Yes, the crowd roared when Brooks left the bench.
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 Randy Turner of the Winnipeg Free Press points out that “this is the kind of (NHL) playoffs where the winner of the office pool will be the guy who thought PK Subban still played for the Canadiens.” . . . Yeah, or the guy who tried to select Wayne Gretzky in the fourth round.

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F Brad Moran (Calgary, 1995-2000) announced his retirement through the website of the Nottingham Panthers (England, UK Elite). The team captain, he had 11 goals and 28 assists in 51 games this season. . . . F Devin Setoguchi (Saskatoon, Prince George, 2003-07) has signed a two-year contract with Adler Mannheim (Germany, DEL). This season, he had four goals and eight assists in 45 games with the Los Angeles Kings (NHL), and three assists in nine games with the Ontario Reign (AHL). . . . D Dominik Bittner (Everett, 2011-12) has signed a two-year contract with the Schwenninger Wild Wings (Germany, DEL). This season, he had a goal and four assists in 36 games with Adler Mannheim (Germany, DEL). . . . F Justin Kirsch (Calgary, Moose Jaw, 2009-13) has signed a one-year extension with the Heilbronner Falken (Germany, DEL2). This season, he had 18 goals and 21 assists in 52 games.
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  Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post wrote a column this week that marked his 30th anniversary — or, rather, one of them — at his favourite newspaper. The reasons I mention this isn’t because I was the assistant sports editor there at the time, but because it is amazing to read this and realize just how many people worked in that sports department. Yes, those were the days, my friends. . . . Vanstone’s piece is right here.
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 The finalists will be decided today at the IIHF’s U-17 World Championship in Poprad, Slovakia. It’s Finland against Russia in the first semifinal, with Team USA and Sweden meeting in the second game. . . . The winners will play in Sunday’s final in Poprad. . . . Meanwhile, in Spisska Nova Ves, Slovakia, Latvia beat Belarus, 3-2, on Friday in Game 2 of the best-of-three relegation series. It’s tied 1-1 and will be decided on Sunday. D Vladislav Yeryomenko of the Calgary Hitmen had an assist for Belarus.
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 If you enjoy stopping off here and would care to make a donation to the cause, please feel free to do so by clicking on the DONATE button and going from there. If you have some information you would like to share or just a general comment, feel free to email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com. If interested, you also are able to follow me on Twitter at @gdrinnan.
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“A researcher at Boston University says she has diagnosed chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in the brains of four former junior hockey players,” writes Rick Westhead, a senior reporter at TSN. “Neuropathologist Dr. Ann McKee made the diagnoses over the past two years. Each of the four former junior players – none of whom advanced to the National Hockey League – committed suicide before the age of 30, she said. . . . Only one of the players has been identified. Drew Mulligan, who was 22 when he committed suicide, played for the Springfield, Mass., Pics of the Empire Junior Hockey League. . . . Westhead’s story is right here.
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USA Hockey will go into the 2018 World Junior Championship with the same coaching staff that guided it to a gold medal earlier this year in Toronto and Montreal. . . . Bob Motzko, the head coach at St. Cloud State, is back for a second go-round as Team USA’s head coach. Also returning are assistant coaches Greg Brown (Boston College), Kris Mayotte (Providence), Steve Miller (Air Force) and Grant Potulny (Northern Michigan). . . . The 2018 tournament is to be held in Buffalo, Dec. 26, 2017, through Jan. 5, and will feature an outdoor game between Team Canada and the Americans on Dec. 29.
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 The ECHL’s Rapid City Rush fired head coach Mark DeSantis on Friday. The announcement was made by general manager Joe Ferras, who had been the head coach before DeSantis was moved up from his post as an assistant. The Rush was 38-47-11 under DeSantis.
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Just in time for Game 1 vs Pats our behind the scenes Vlog #6 is up. @CTVAllieMiller & I get a little excited.. https://t.co/0JLWMWyL7m pic.twitter.com/gEjTmOlzDo — Kaella Carr (@CTVKaellaCarr) April 21, 2017

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FRIDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

Friendly fire in visitors broadcast booth. pic.twitter.com/Q6kpT2THOL — Regan Bartel (@Reganrant) April 22, 2017

At Kent, Wash., D Ethan Bear broke a 4-4 tie with a PP goal with 11.2 seconds left in the third period to give the Seattle Thunderbirds a 5-4 victory over the Kelowna Rockets. . . . They’ll play Game 2 of the

ETHAN BEAR

Western Conference final tonight in Kent. . . . Seattle was on only its second PP of the game — it finished 1-2 — when there was a face-off in Kelowna’s zone. The puck came to Bear and he hammered home a slap shot from the top of the left circle for his fourth goal of these playoffs. . . . Just 35 seconds earlier, Seattle G Carl Stankowski had stopped Kelowna D Devante Stephens on a shorthanded breakaway. . . . The Rockets, who were 3-6 on the PP, had tied the game 4-4 with a pair of third-period PP scores. . . . F Tomas Soustal (3) cut Kelowna to within a goal at 5:53 and F Calvin Thurkauf (6) tied it at 15:00. . . . Earlier, the Thunderbirds scored first for a ninth straight playoff game when F Ryan Gropp got his second goal at 10:00 of the first period. . . . The Rockets took a 2-1 lead on goals from F Kole Lind (4), on a PP, with 6.2 seconds left in the first period, and F Reid Gardiner, his WHL-leading 13th, at 1:09 of the second. . . . The Thunderbirds pulled even when F Alexander True (5) scored with 2.6 left in the second. . . . Seattle then scored two goals three minutes apart to start the third period. . . . D Turner Ottenbreit (1) counted at 0:52 and F Sami Moilanen (3) added another goal at 3:52. . . . Moilanen added two assists to his goal, while Gropp had one. . . . The Rockets got two assists from Gardiner, with Thurkauf adding one. . . . Stankowski stopped 29 shots in running his record to 9-0. . . . Kelowna G Michael Herringer turned aside 20 shots. . . . The Thunderbirds had their big line — Mathew Barzal between Keegan Kolesar and Gropp — together to start a game for the first time in a while. . . . As a result of Gropp rejoining that line, F Donovan Neuls moved back to play on a line with True and Tyler Adams. . . . Announced attendance: 4,001. ——

#Lethbridge #Hurricanes goaltender @ssskipy_74 dives across his crease to make a save. #WHL. pic.twitter.com/5RGX9T9brE — Darren Steinke (@StanksSports) April 22, 2017

At Regina, F Giorgio Estephan scored twice, the second into an empty net, to help the Lethbridge

GIORGIO ESTEPHAN

Hurricanes to a 3-1 victory over the Pats. . . . They’ll play Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final tonight in Regina. . . . Last night, F Austin Wagner’s 11th goal gave the Pats a 1-0 lead at 1:10 of the first period. . . . The Hurricanes, who have won four straight road games, tied it on Estephan’s first goal of the game, at 13:23 of the second period. . . . The Hurricanes took their first lead at 1:59 of the third period when F Jordy Bellerive scored his fifth goal, on a PP. . . . The Pats thought they had tied it at 8:21 of the third when Wagner got the puck into the Lethbridge net. However, the goal was disallowed after a video review during which it was ascertained that the net was off its moorings before the puck entered the net. . . . Estephan iced it with his 10th goal, into an empty net, at 18:38. . . . D Igor Merezhko had two assists for Lethbridge. . . . The Hurricanes got 36 saves from G Stuart Skinner, while Regina’s Tyler Brown stopped 22 shots. . . . Lethbridge was 1-3 on the PP; Regina was 0-2. . . . Announced attendance: 6,484. . . . Darren Steinke, the Travellin’ Blogger, was in attendance and posted his game piece right here.

Canes gather at centre ice.. raise their sticks and salute the crowd.officials also booed off the ice.. this will be a long series #WHL — Warren Woods (@WoodsyCJME) April 22, 2017

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SATURDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

Kelowna vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:35 p.m. (Seattle leads, 1-0) Lethbridge at Regina, 7 p.m. (Lethbridge leads, 1-0)
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Broncos put Bow on win . . . Five-point night for Wheaties' McGauley . . . Big Ben tolls for Silvertips

F Anders Lövdahl (Calgary, Moose Jaw, Lethbridge, 1999-2001) has signed for the rest of this season with Grästorp (Sweden, Division 1). This season, with Narvik (Norway, Division 1), he had two assists in two games, and he had three goals in four games with Kiruna (Sweden, Division 1).
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G Reto Berra of the Lake Erie Monsters scored a goal Friday night in a 5-1 victory over the host Chicago Wolves. If you haven’t seen the goal, it’s right here, and it’s worth watching if only for the celebration. . . . He is the 11th goaltender in AHL history to score a goal. . . . Former WHL D Dean Chynoweth, who also is a former WHL general manager and coach, is Lake Erie’s head coach.
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How much do concussions cost the NHL? Roy MacGregor of The Globe and Mail takes a look right here. His story includes a list of 35 players whose careers were ended because of concussions. This is frightening stuff.
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FRIDAY’S GAMES:

In Prince Albert, F Luke Philp scored twice to help the Kootenay Ice to a 5-2 victory over the Raiders. . . . Philp, who had scored the game’s first goal, broke a 1-1 tie at 5:46 of the third period with his 20th goal of the season. . . . F Sam Reinhart had two assists for the Ice. He’s got 285 career regular-season points, one shy of the franchise record held by F Jarret Stoll, now of the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. . . . Ice F Jaedon Descheneau scored his 22nd goal and added an assist. . . . F Tim Vanstone had two assists for the Raiders. . . . The Ice (22-21-1) had lost four in a row. . . . The Raiders (19-24-1) had a three-game winning streak end. . . . The Ice holds down the Eastern Conference’s last playoff spot and the Raiders now are six points off the pace. . . . The Raiders are at home to Medicine Hat tonight, while the Ice visits Saskatoon. . . . Jeff D’Andrea of panow.com has a game story right here. . . .

In Swift Current, G Landon Bow tied a franchise record as he stopped 24 shots and led the Broncos to a 5-0 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . That was Bow’s sixth shutout of the season. He now shares the franchise record for most shutouts in one season with Mark Friesen (2010-11). . . . F Glenn Gawdin scored twice, giving him 12 goals, while F Jake DeBrusk got No. 24 on a second-period PP. . . . F Jay Merkley scored his 11th goal and added two assists, while D Max Lajoie and F Andreas Schumacher each had two assists. . . . The Broncos (21-19-5) halted a three-game skid (0-2-1). . . . The Warriors (18-24-4) had won two in a row. . . . The Broncos entertain Brandon tonight. . . . The Warriors are at home to Lethbridge tonight. . . .

In Saskatoon, D Nolan Reid broke a 4-4 tie at 9:12 of the third period and the Blades went on to a 5-4 victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . Reid, a 16-year-old from Deer Valley, Sask., has one goal in 25 games this season after scoring once in two games last season. . . . Tigers F Trevor Cox gave his guys a 4-3 lead with his 16th goal at 16:34 of the second period. . . . Saskatoon F Brett Stovin tied it at 3:02 of the third, on a PP, with his second of the game and 15th of the season. Last season, he finished with 14 goals in 61 games. . . . The Blades had lost five straight games to the Tigers. . . . F Wyatt Sloboshan and D Brycen Martin each had two assists for the Blades. . . . Medicine Hat F Dryden Hunt scored his 17th goal and added an assist, while F Markus Eisenschmid had two assists. F Matt Bradley got his ninth goal and had an assist for the Tigers. . . . Saskatoon G Nik Amundrud stopped 42 shots, seven more than Medicine Hat’s Nick Schneider. . . . Saskatoon F Nikita Soshnin came up short on a third-period penalty shot with the game tied at 4. . . . The Tigers were 3-for-6 on the PP but gave up a shorthanded goal. . . . The Blades were 2-for-3 on the PP. . . . Saskatoon (11-29-3), which is at home to Kootenay tonight, has won two straight. . . . The Tigers (29-12-2) have lost two in a row. . . . The Tigers are in Prince Albert tonight. . . . Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix has a game story right here.

In Brandon, F Tim McGauley scored two goals and added three assists to lead the Wheat Kings to an 8-5 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . McGauley has 27 goals. . . . The Wheat Kings opened up a 3-0 first-period lead, only to have the Hurricanes pull even on F Ryley Lindgren’s first goal of the season at 10:28 of the second. . . . The Wheat Kings took control again when McGauley scored twice, at 14:55 and 17:17. . . . F Peter Quenneville and F Morgan Klimchuk also had two goals each for Brandon. Quenneville has 12 goals; Klimchuk, who reached the 100-goal plateau for his career, has 17 this season. . . . Brandon F Reid Duke scored his 12th goal and had two assists. . . . F Tyler Wong scored his 16th goal of the season for Lethbridge. . . . Brandon held a 57-21 edge in shots. . . . The Wheat Kings lost F Jayce Hawryluk to an undisclosed injury in the first period. . . . F Jamal Watson was among Lethbridge’s scratches. . . . F Brett Davis, a fourth-round selection in the 2014 bantam draft, made his debut with Lethbridge. From Oakbank, Man., he plays for the midget AAA Eastman Selects. . . . The Wheat Kings (32-9-4) have won three straight. . . . The Hurricanes (10-26-6) have lost three in a row. . . . Brandon will play in Swift Current tonight, while Lethbridge is in Moose Jaw. . . .

In Edmonton, F Lane Bauer scored three times to lead the Oil Kings to a 6-2 victory over the Regina Pats. . . . Bauer has 16 goals; that was his first WHL hat trick. . . . The Oil Kings scored the game’s first six goals. . . . Edmonton D Blake Orban and F Cole Benson each had two assists. . . . Benson was playing his first game since Nov. 27 as he had been out with an undisclosed injury. He missed 16 games. . . . D Marshall Donald, who was acquired from Calgary last week, made his Edmonton debut and drew two assists. . . . Edmonton G Tristan Jarry made 28 saves. . . . Edmonton F Brett Pollock, its leading scorer, left in the third period with an undisclosed injury. After the game, Brian Swane of the Edmonton Sun tweeted that Oil Kings head coach Steve Hamilton said: “We're waiting to get an update on (Pollock’s) situation, but hopefully it's nothing too substantial.” . . . The Oil Kings, who are at home to Victoria on Sunday afternoon, improved to 22-18-5. . . . The Pats now are 26-15-3. They’ll play in Red Deer tonight. . . .

In Red Deer, F Austin Carroll scored the only goal of the shootout, in the seventh round, as the Victoria Royals beat the Rebels, 2-1. . . . F Greg Chase scored his 10th goal of the season to give Victoria a 1-0 lead 57 seconds into the first period. . . . F Brooks Maxwell scored his 14th goal for Red Deer at 14:33 of the first. . . . Victoria G Coleman Vollrath, making his 100th WHL appearance, stopped 34 shots through OT, five more than Red Deer’s Rylan Toth. . . . The Royals (23-19-3) have won three straight. They visit Calgary tonight. . . The Rebels (25-14-6), who play host to Regina tonight, had won their previous five games. . . .

In Prince George, F Chase De Leo’s shootout goal gave the Portland Winterhawks a 4-3 victory over the Cougars before 3,858 fans. . . . De Leo, who had a 17-game point streak end in a 6-2 loss in Kamloops on Wednesday, scored his 18th goal in the first period. . . . Portland F Miles Koules forced OT with his 19th goal at 16:54 of the third period. . . . The Cougars scored three first-period PP goals to take a 3-2 lead. . . . D Josh Connolly scored his seventh goal and added an assist for Prince George. He was acquired from Kamloops last week with the hopes that he could add some life to the Cougars’ PP. . . . F Nic Petan and F Oliver Bjorkstrand each had two assists for Portland. . . . F Chase Witala scored his 24th goal for Prince George. . . . Winterhawks G Adin Hill stopped 31 shots, five fewer than Ty Edmonds of the Cougars. . . . Portland F Mitch Walter was among the scratches. He left Wednesday’s game in Kamloops after taking a hard punch to the face in a second-period altercation. That was his first game with the Winterhawks since being acquired from Edmonton. . . . F David Soltes played his first game with the Cougars since leaving to play for Slovakia at the WJC. His father, sister and girlfriend took in the game from the Cougars’ corporate box. . . . The Winterhawks (24-19-3) moved into second place in the U.S. Division, a point ahead of Spokane, which has three games in hand. . . . The Cougars (20-23-2) have lost four in a row (0-2-2). . . . The same teams will play again tonight in Prince George. . . . The Cougars have drawn 63,787 fans to their 23 home games. Last season, their 36-game attendance total was 60,931. . . .

In Kelowna, G Taran Kozun stopped 36 shots to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 5-2 victory over the Kelowna Rockets. . . . Kozun was especially sharp in the first period when the Rockets held a 17-9 edge in shots. . . . Seattle came out of that period with a 2-0 goal. . . . F Roberts Lipsbergs scored his first goal since returning to the Thunderbirds from the ECHL’s Stockton Thunder. . . . Lipsbergs also had an assist. . . . Kelowna F Nick Merkley scored his 14th goal, at 6:39 of the second, to get the Rockets to within 2-1. . . . But Seattle F Cory Millette restored the two-goal lead 15 seconds later with his 11th goal of the season. . . . Kelowna F Rourke Chartier, who leads the WHL in goals, was scratched with a back injury. Larry Fisher of the Kelowna Daily Courier reports that Chartier is day-to-day “after getting hit from behind last game.” . . . Among Seattle’s scratches were F Mathew Barzal (knee) and F Alexander True (broken wrist). . . . Barzal, who hasn’t played since Nov. 4, is getting close to returning. True was injured on Tuesday. . . . The Thunderbirds (22-16-5) are 3-0-1 in their last four. They are in Everett tonight. . . . The Rockets now are 34-8-3 with six of those losses coming at home. They’ll have a lot of time to chew on this one as they don’t play again until Friday. . . . Larry Fisher of the Kelowna Daily Courier has a game story right here. . . .

In Vancouver, G Evan Sarthou stopped 30 shots to lead the Tri-City Americans to a 3-0 victory over the Giants. . . . Sarthou, who has three shutouts this season, is the Americans’ starter with Eric Comrie out with an undisclosed injury. . . . F Ty Comrie scored his fourth goal at 9:19 of the second period and it stood up as the winner. . . . F Taylor Vickerman added insurance with his fifth goal at 12:40 of the third, via the PP, and F Austyn Playfair got his first career goal, into an empty net, at 19:06. . . . F Max James had two assists. . . . Vancouver G Payton Lee stopped 28 shots. . . . Vancouver F Thomas Foster took a kneeing major and game misconduct at 11:09 of the third period. . . . The Americans (21-21-2) had lost their previous two games. They entertain Spokane tonight. . . . The Giants (19-22-2), who are in Kamloops tonight, have lost two straight. . . .

In Everett, D Ben Betker drew four assists to help the Silvertips to a 5-3 victory over the Spokane Chiefs. . . . Playing in his 174th regular-season game, Betker had never had more than two points in one game. He has 46 points, 11 of them goals, in his career. He now has a career-high 16 assists, two more than he earned all of last season. In his last 10 games, Betker has 12 points, including 10 assists. . . . The Silvertips scored the game’s first three goals, taking a 3-0 lead on F Matt Fonteyne’s fourth goal, shorthanded, at 7:40 of the first period. . . . That was the Silvertips’ first SHG of the season. They were the last of the 22 teams to score a SHG. . . . The Chiefs got to 3-2 before the period ended but were never able to equalize. . . . In fact, Everett F Jake Mykitiuk scored his first of the season at 14:37 of the first to restore the two-goal lead. . . . Spokane F Adam Helewka scored his 26th goal at 13:15 of the second period. He tied a franchise record with at least one goal in nine straight games. . . . Helewka shares the record with F Marian Cisar, 1997-98; F Brent Gilchrist, 1986-87; and F Terry Perkins, 1985-86. . . . Thanks to WHL Facts (@WHLFacts) for the info. . . . F Calder Brooks was among Spokane’s scratches. . . . The Silvertips (27-12-4), who are at home to Seattle tonight, have won three straight. . . . The Chiefs (23-16-4), who meet Tri-City in Kennewick, Wash., tonight, slipped into third place in the U.S. Division, one point behind Portland. Spokane does hold three games in hand.
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TV game in Kelowna tonite. Can you tell? This is my view. pic.twitter.com/wc2VublHfb
— Thom Beuning (@ThomBeuning) January 17, 2015

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Liong's take on concussions . . .

Concussions are unlike any other type of injury.
As a young boy growing up, I was extremely ignorant of all types of injuries. I thought, well, if I fell, I'd just get back up and over time whatever I hurt was going to heal.
I was right, for the most part.
I was born with cerebral palsy, which affects my walking. As a result, I need a walker or some type of support. Because of that, I've had a lot of situations where I have fallen or tripped and been injured.
I've had my fair share of concussions, too. There was one incident that I remember like it happened yesterday. I was in Grade 2 or 3, and I was playing outside with a friend during lunch hour. It all was in good fun until my wheels got caught on the curb, which put the walker on an angle. At the time, I wasn't physically strong enough to get my walker on even ground, and it went straight backward.
I heard “KONCK“ as my head hit concrete at full force.
“Are you OK?” my friend asked, in obvious concern.
“I'm fine,” I uttered.
But I clearly wasn't. When I tried to get up, I couldn't.
I'd try again, and again, but I just ended up laying on the ground every time. I didn't want attention put on me while in that situation, but it ended up happening anyway. All the parents, students and teachers came running to see what was wrong. I was just laying on the ground like a starfish. A mother of one of the kids got on her knees and spoke extremely close to my face.
“Honey, you will be fine,” she said.
Then she screamed for someone to call 9-1-1 and request an ambulance.
I didn't really know what was going on, so I didn't respond to anything she said. Thank goodness she didn't have bad breath; she was inches away from my face and it could have looked like she was making out with me. Anyway, within minutes an ambulance showed up, by which point I was really scared.
It was my first time experiencing the big emergency truck.
“What's happening?” I said to my teacher as they loaded me into the ambulance. “What's going on?” I had no idea where I was going.
“These people are just taking you somewhere to make sure you’re OK,” my support worker said. He rode to Children's Hospital with me.
When I got there, they did a bunch of tests on me, and a few hours later my mom showed up and began asking me how I ended up in the hospital.
One of the translators jumped in and explained what had happened and what the doctor was saying to her. The doctor said I was doing fine and I was free to head home. The wooziness was gone.
I really didn't know what concussions were, until I got in my early teenage years where I started hearing about the issue during NHL broadcasts. But, even then, I still didn't understand the impact of a head injury.
Norm Weseen, one of my close friends, reads this blog every day for hockey news. In the summer of 2011, Gregg Drinnan, the founder of Taking Note, posted that there was going to be a conference focusing on head injuries at the University of British Columbia's Brain Research Centre on Sept. 21 and provided a link to the registration information.
You may recall that awareness on concussions had started to heat up because Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, arguably the best player in the NHL, had suffered a concussion in the 2010-11 season from blindside hits to the head.
With that in mind, Weseen, a great man who is always willing to help people, saw the post and decided to call me right away.
“Hey, bozo,” he said, jokingly. “Gregg says there's a conference at UBC on concussions. You interested?”
“Yeah,” I replied, knowing what had happened with Crosby.
“OK, I'll figure out how to register and I'll pick you up at 7.”
“OK,” I said.
Now it was Sept. 21 and we were close to getting there. But UBC has so many building that it took us 20 minutes to find the right one, and we arrived just in time.
As I entered the conference room, there was five minutes until the opening remarks and there weren’t any media people in attendance.
I thought to myself that “maybe they're just running late.”
As the time came to start the conference and the security people came to shut the doors, there still were no reporters there. I was the only person there that does media. The rest were students. I was baffled at the fact that there was no media. Don't they want to cover something that has not only a huge impact on hockey, but sports altogether? Shocking.
Anyway, most of the speakers’ presentations went so fast that I didn't understand 90 per cent of each one. But when I attend coaching clinic, they always say that it's not about taking in all the presentations, it's about learning one item at a time. So taking in 10 per cent of each presentation was pretty good in my books.
But there was one presentation that I paid more attention to than the others. It was by Dr. Ann McKee of Boston College and she talked about the major consequences after suffering a head injury.
“What the hell?” I said to Weseen, who was seated beside me. “There's consequences?”
“I don't know,” he replied, with a laugh. “Just shut up and listen.”
During McKee's presentation, she mentioned two names that really got my attention. One being Crosby, and the other being Rob Van Dam, a WWE wrestler. Aside from watching hockey, I've been watching professional wrestling on a weekly basis since I was two years of age. McKee explained that because of Van Dam's high-flying style, he had suffered a number of concussions. This proved to me that wrestling wasn't fake, but that the outcomes are scripted in order to create storylines.
Then she showed the people in attendance something I had never before seen. She displayed pictures of brains that had suffered concussion and the sort of damage it does. When athletes suffer a concussion, it puts a brown spot on the brain, and it stays forever. The ones with the brown spots are more prone to another concussion, which will make the brown spot darker and perhaps even larger. If it gets bad enough, athletes having incurred a number of concussions may behave abnormally.
So that begs the question: Why are shots to the head allowed in hockey?
In terms of wrestling, I get it, it's simulated fighting. But why are shots to the head allowed in a game that, in order to obtain victory, you have to score more goals than the other team? You don't score goals with dirty hits; you do it by putting the puck in the net. What really bugs me is a pre-planned fight during a hockey game. Fine, if two players are fighting out of anger, let them be. Hockey is a game with high emotion.
But if the fight has no reason behind it, then why risk getting a head injury that could have affects later on in life? It makes no sense.
After attending the conference, I get all fired up when I hear about concussions, especially because of my own experience. Those head injuries will stay with me forever, even if a doctor tells me I'm fine.
It's not just another concussion.
Take action.

(Dickson Liong is Taking Note’s Vancouver correspondent.)

It wasn't supposed to turn out like this

It is enough to make a grown man weep.
A father, with a concussed son and seemingly nowhere to turn, makes contact with a sports writer.
Names and numbers are exchanged.
A while later, the father writes that his son “is very slowly coming through the fog . . . due in large part to your blog and the contacts it generated.”
Now 22 years of age, the son last played a WHL game in 2012. It was his 20-year-old season. It wasn’t supposed to turn out the way it did.
Five weeks later, the father writes again. There are times when the sunshine is having a hard time cutting through the fog.
There was progress, they thought, when the son got a job this summer. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to hold it.
Why not?
On three separate occasions he returned to the family home in the middle of a shift. However, upon arriving at home, he had no recollection as to why he had left work.
“Upon contacting his employer(s) at the time,” Dad writes, “they all referred to him as having had a ‘meltdown.’ ”
The employers all were “very understanding” and promised that there would be a job for the son “once he gets well.”
The son, feeling “too embarrassed by his brain inury,” hasn’t gone back.
Still, he will forge ahead. He has to; after all, life goes on. Despite still suffering from occasional headaches and some memory loss, he has registered for university and plans to return next month.
“I would wish this upon no one,” the father writes. “And by that I don't mean his mother and me. I mean him.
“Life as a 22-year-old is supposed to be full of wonder and anticipation, of plans and of holding hands by a campfire with the girl of your dreams.
“The girl of his dreams has left him and he is a mere shell of his former confident, bigger-than-life, smiling, loving, laughing self.
“My heart breaks just a little more every time an ‘event’ occurs and his former presence becomes just a little more diminished.”
Meanwhile, another WHL player announced his retirement on Monday. Defenceman Tanner Muth, 20, of the Kootenay Ice is reported to have suffered three brain injuries last season. There won’t be a fourth as he has decided not to return for a fifth winter in the WHL.
At least four WHL players have ended their hockey careers in the last while due to post-concussion syndrome. One other player doesn’t appear to have made it official but he isn’t in training camp. Still another has left the game with what his team says is a neck injury, although he suffered a brain injury during a game in Kamloops early last season.
They fight depression. Some aren’t able to hold any job that is at all physically demanding. The headaches, the dizziness, the lightheadedness, the memory loss . . . it’s all too much.
The toll is mounting. The list of young men whose hockey careers — not just their WHL careers, but oftentimes their athletic careers — have been brought to a screeching halt by brain injuries grows ever longer.
Whatever it is that the WHL is doing to get brain injuries out of its game, it isn’t enough. The elbow pads still are too big and too hard. Ditto for shoulder pads. There are too many hits from behind. There are too many checks in which the head is targeted. There are too many fights where there shouldn’t be any.
In December 2007, former WHL forward Dean McAmmond, by then an NHLer, told the Toronto Star’s Randy Starkman:
“People say I have got concussion problems, but I don't have concussion problems. I have a problem with people giving me traumatic blows to the head, that's what I have a problem with.”
That, in a nutshell, is the problem that faces the WHL. Young men with a sense of invincibility don’t understand the consequences of striking another player in the head, be it helmeted or otherwise.
And don’t think for a moment that the issue of concussions in sport is going to go away. It isn’t. In fact, the spotlight on it is only going to get brighter.
On Oct. 8, a book titled League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for the Truth is to be published. It was written by brothers Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada, who are investigative reporters for ESPN.
On Oct. 8 and 15, the PBS-TV public affairs series Frontline will carry a two-part documentary — League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis.
Millions of viewers are expected to tune in. The NFL, the most-popular sporting league in all of North America, will come under fire.
There will be collateral damage and hockey, its season underway by that point, will get caught up in it as questions are asked.
Somewhere a father will watch and he will weep as he wonders what the future holds for his son.
No, it wasn’t supposed to turn out this way.

(Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, gdrinnan.blogspot.ca and twitter.com/gdrinnan.)

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A father wonders what's to come for his son

If you have been following medical developments involving concussions and traumatic brain injuries, you are aware how much the science is changing.
It seems there are new developments and new information almost on a daily basis.
Through it all, however, a couple of things have become evident — every brain reacts differently to trauma and it only takes one injury to leave permanent damage.
If you are a hockey fan, you also will be aware that concussions aren’t disappearing from the landscape, not from the NHL and not from the WHL. In fact, it’s gotten to the point where you really do wonder what is going to have to happen before someone with some authority really takes charge.
The hockey community has been far too slow to react as the medical community continues to shine new light on what has become an enormous problem.
Yes, there always will be concussions in sports in which there is physical contact. But to experience in the area of 100 such brain injuries in a season, as happens in the WHL, is ludicrous.
Something needs to be done — and it needs to be done right now — because there are too many players and families out there who are suffering from something that could have been avoided.
Take, for instance, the case of one unnamed player who spent five seasons in the WHL. According to this player’s father, his son suffered two concussions in those five seasons; they were a year apart with the second one occurring in his fifth season.
“No others, none suspected, none even remotely overlooked in the five seasons he enjoyed in the WHL,” the father writes.
The player, having used up his junior eligibility, was to have played in a different league this season. It never happened.
The headaches started in July. Still, he was able to work through them. But he wasn’t able to get through his preseason testing with his new team. And then things started to get worse.
In his father’s words, there “was a decided and obvious behavioural change in him observed by several others, not just the nuclear family.”
The change has been devastating.
“Over the past few months, I have borne witness to my one-time honours student son’s downward spiral into a sometimes violent, angry, confused and unstable stranger,” the father writes. “My wife and I are near our wit’s end as we sit at home waiting for that next phone call or knock on the door.
“You know the one . . . ‘Hello, may I speak with Mr. . . ., this is the RCMP.’
“It is a conversation that generally ends with ‘and then he turned the gun on himself.’ That would effectively end life as my family now knows it.”
The family is working to save itself and the father admits there is progress.
“We have searched for and reached out to every resource available,” he writes, “and are seeing signs of improvement. It is a slow, unpredictable and oftentimes painful process.”
What is so terribly sad about all of this is that both concussions were preventable.
Both were the result of head shots — one of them from behind against a stanchion, the other from “a flying wing elbow to the head delivered while my son was neither in possession of the puck nor in any way able to protect himself.”
According to the father, both blows were delivered by repeat offenders, the first of them by someone who, as they say, is well known to the WHL office.
“The first player to run my son’s head through the end boards,” the father writes, “has been suspended more often than he has scored. His only value to his team is his unpredictability.”
Interestingly, the father refuses to point the finger of blame at the players. He likens them to being “loaded weapons.”
That, he writes, “would be too much like blaming the gun or the bullet in a shooting death.”
He chooses to look beyond the players and wonder: “Why are (these players) even in the league? Especially the multiple repeat offender?”
He then proceeds to answer his own question: “It is because the coaches and general managers, still emerging from the primordial muck we call the good old days, recognize what these players bring to the team — and therefore it is they who don’t respect the players. They are the ones loading the gun.”
The answer, as this parent sees it, is to get such players out of the league.
As the parent puts it: “If there is nowhere to play for players of this ilk, and particularly the repeat offender, this stuff will be gone as fast as a team meal following a road game.”
In the meantime, however, two parents weep for their son and what he has become, all because of two incidents in a game that has brought so much to them.
“I am genuinely frightened about what the future may hold for my son,” the father writes. “The day he played his first WHL game I was as excited and as proud as a dad can be.
“Through the game of hockey, my family has seen the world. My son has played for his country. He has played alongside present day NHLers and attended an NHL training camp as an 18-year-old.
“As a family our lives have been enriched by the experience in ways we cannot begin to measure.
“And I’d give it all back in a millisecond just to see my son healthy again.”

(Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca.)


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Leagues and concussions

The headline on the Jeff Z. Klein-written piece in The New York Times a week ago reads: In N.H.L., Disclosure of Concussions is Lagging.
Klein writes: “The N.H.L. has earned praise this season for taking measures to reduce concussions, including introducing stronger rules against boarding and checks to the head, and strictly enforcing those rules through fines and suspensions. But questions persist about a league policy that allows teams to be vague about disclosure of injuries, and a recent incident suggested that in-game concussion protocols might be inconsistently applied.”
Klein goes on to write about, among other things, the way the New York Rangers have dealt with updates on the condition of D Marc Staal, who has yet to play this season, and the way in which the Toronto Maple Leafs handled the apparent concussion suffered by G James Reimer, who “has not played since Oct. 22, when he sustained an injury that the Maple Leafs have characterized variously as whiplash, concussion-like symptoms and an upper-body injury.”
The Reimer situation is particularly interesting because it turned into a story with some legs. With the Maple Leafs refusing to clarify the situation, Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star called Reimer’s mother and wrote a piece on the injured goaltender from that angle.
As Marlene Reimer told Feschuk: “That’s the frustrating part for us — not knowing what it is, and why they’re not calling it a concussion when they say ‘concussion-like symptoms.’ ”
The Leafs, of course, weren’t at all pleased with Feschuk’s piece. As Damien Cox of the Toronto Star points out right here, the Leafs are upset because, like so many organizations these days, they want to control the message 24/7 and would rather provide transparency only on their terms.
———
Brendan Shanahan, the NHL’s vice-president of player safety, said earlier this week that concussions in the league are down 50 to 60 per cent.
But with the NHL refusing to divulge figures and to be transparent about injuries, can he be believed?
A story written by Steve Keating of Reuters on Tuesday quotes Shanahan as saying: "They are less than half from the same time last year, so it's a significant improvement. We would love get rid of them all, but we know we're not going to do that."
Keating also pointed out: “The NHL did not provide figures but the high number of (suspensions) handed out by Shanahan appear to have gotten the message across that dangerous hits will no longer be tolerated.”
Well, if the NHL doesn’t supply figures, and knowing how the messenger often shapes the messages in this day and age, why should it be believed?
The WHL also refuses to divulge specifics on injuries. In fact, in the injury list that was released this week there are 35 players shown as being out with upper body injuries, while 16 others have lower body injuries.
Which means there could be more than 30 players out with concussions at this point. However, we don’t know that because no one is talking.
For example, the Spokane Chiefs list F Dominik Uher as being out day-to-day with an upper body injury. I’m told he has a concussion, that he will undergo baseline testing on Friday and that he is expected to be out at least two weeks.
The WHL injury list doesn’t include F Colton Stephenson of the Edmonton Oil Kings, who retired earlier this season because of post-concussion syndrome; F Max Adolph of the Kelowna Rockets, who is at home in Saskatoon recovering from multiple concussions; and, F Brayden Cuthbert of the Moose Jaw Warriors, who is at home in Brandon and hoping to come back from concussion woes.
At the end of this season, the WHL is going to tell us how much concussions are down from last season, when players suffered more than 100 such injuries.
But, really, how will we know?
(It will be interesting to see what information is released on the injury suffered Wednesday night by G Tyler Bunz of the Medicine Hat Tigers. He was on the WHL bench during the Subway Series game in Regina against the Russians when he was struck in the head by an errant clearing pass. He was taken to hospital as a precaution and has been told he won't play tonight in the series finale in Moose Jaw. Concussion? He did miss some time in last season's playoffs with a concussion, too.)

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

Sunday . . .

The horrible stories of hockey players and their attempts to deal with concussions continue to flow like fine wine at one of those team dinners where the rookies pick up the tab. Cathy Gulli of Macleans magazine has more devastating life experiences right here. Her story includes former NHLer Eric Lindros telling some of his story, and it is devastating. It also includes former WHLer Kevin Kaminski, who talks of how he believes his problems with post-concussion syndrome cost him his marriage.
———
Adam Micheletti is the director of hockey and business operations for the USHL-champion Dubuque Fighting Saints, the expansion franchise that won the league title on Saturday night. But there more to his story than that. It involves three concussions in 18 months, the last of which ended his hockey career. . . . His father is former NHLer Joe Micheletti, and this is a story to which ever parent should pay attention.
Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe has that story right here.
———
While Kootenay struggles to score at the Memorial Cup, former Ice star Nigel Dawes scored twice Sunday to lead the visiting Hamilton Bulldogs to a 5-3 double OT victory over the Houston Aeros in an AHL playoff game. The Bulldogs, who once trailed this series 3-0, have forced Game 7 and will that one Tuesday in Houston. . . . Dawes got the winner at 9:11 of the second OT. . . . In AHL history, two teams — Rochester Americans (1960) and Adirondack Red Wings (1989) — have come back from a 0-3 deficit, and both teams won Game 7. . . . Dawes also set a franchise record for most goals (14) in a single playoff season.
———
They’re calling it The Hit at the Mastercard Memorial Cup in Mississauga, Ont., and Steve Buffery of the Toronto Sun examines its impact right here.
———
James Mirtle of The Globe and Mail was at Sunday’s Memorial Cup game. His game story is right here.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

Concussions, CTE mean it's time for fighting to go

The time has come to rid major junior hockey of fighting.
There. I said it.
And you know what?
It doesn’t feel half bad. In fact, it feels pretty good.
Having been around the WHL for more than 30 years, I have long been a drinker of the Kool-Aid. When hockey people would say that fighting is an integral part of the game, that a fight could swing a game’s momentum one way or the other, that players rarely got injured in a fight, I would nod my head in agreement.
Fighting, the hockey lifers will tell you, has always been part of the game.
And it has been. Just like the centre-ice red line. And goaltenders handling the puck without restrictions. And obstruction. And one referee.
But now it’s time for fighting to go.
Why?
Because the time has come for the WHL to rid its game of headshots. It has to do this because it is imperative that it do more to protect its young players from concussions.
And it would be hypocritical to invoke a ban on headshots and not take fighting out of the game.
How can you ban headshots while saying it’s OK for two players to stand there and punch each other in the face?
My thinking started to change about the time that researchers at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at the Boston University School of Medicine revealed that an examination of the brain of former NHLer Reggie Fleming, a disturber in the 1960s who died in 2009, showed indications of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Then, in the last while, the same researchers found CTE in the brain of former NHL enforcer Bob Probert.
That, along with some on-ice happenings, has made headshots and concussions the hot-button topic in and around hockey at all levels.
Also influencing my thinking were incidents involving Sidney Crosby and Killian Hutt, Zdeno Chara on Max Pacioretty, Matt Cooke on Marc Savard and on and on.
And then came an email from the mother of a WHL player. She expressed concern over the number of concussions and head injuries in the WHL this season, a figure that now has reached at least 100. This wasn’t your ordinary email, because it came from a professional who provided documentation, some of it frightening, to every statement she made.
It is most obvious that, while the study of concussions and their long-term effects is in its infancy, head injuries no longer can be looked at in the short term. Studies that have been done contain too many words and phrases like “ongoing impairment” and “recurrent or cumulative damage” and “chronic neurocognitive impairment” and “early onset of dementia.”
During the 2009-10 season, a group of medical professionals, including Dr. Charles Tator, who is considered Canada’s pre-eminent expert on sport concussions, put together the Hockey Concussion Education Project, a study involving “67 male fourth-tier ice hockey players from two teams.”
Physicians involved attended 52 regular-season games involving junior-aged players and observed 21 concussions to 17 players. “A concussion was diagnosed in 19 (36.5 per cent) of 52 observed games,” the resulting report reads.
It is interesting, too, that “no concussions that occurred in practices were reported by either team during the study. Previous sport concussion studies demonstrated that concussion predominantly occurs in game situations.”
The professionals involved in this study, however, ran into some problems.
As they reported: “Complaints by coaches, players and parents concerning the inconvenience of multiple physician visits for serial testing and evaluation were common. The reluctance to report concussion symptoms and to follow such protocols likely results from certain cultural factors such as athletes asserting their masculinity by playing through the discomfort of an injury, and the belief that winning is more important than the athlete’s long-term health.”
The report summarized that “the incidence of concussion in fourth-tier junior ice hockey players was significantly greater than has previously been reported in the literature for this age group.”
Another report — this one by Drs. Jeffrey S. Kutcher, Christopher C. Giza and Anthony G. Alessi, titled simply Sports Concussion — concludes with this:
“Increasing animal and human data suggest that the developing brain’s reaction to concussive injury is distinct from the mature brain, and that age-specific clinical guidelines for concussion management be developed, with perhaps a more conservative approach to assessment and recovery.”
You don’t have to look very hard to find warning signs and lots of them.
According to one study involving U.S. college football players, those who suffered one concussion “were 3.4 times more likely than uninjured teammates to sustain a subsequent concussion during the same season.”
And then there is this from a study titled Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: A Potential Late Effect of Sport-Related Concussive and Subconcussive Head Trauma:
“A minority of cases with neuropathologically documented CTE developed dementia before death; the relative infrequency of dementia in individuals with CTE may be due in part to many individuals with CTE having committed suicide or died from accidents or drug overdoses at an early age.”
Unfortunately, the only way to diagnose CTE is through the examination of a brain, although efforts are being made, according to this report, “to identify biomarkers to detect the disease and monitor its progression and to develop therapies to slow or reverse its course.”
In the meantime, the WHL, indeed all of hockey, owes it to the athletes to do more to protect them from themselves.
“It is widely accepted that the symptomatic effects of up to 90 per cent of concussions are short-lived, lasting only seven to 10 days,” reads the report titled Sports Concussion. “This viewpoint puts sports concussion in the light of being a transient phenomenon with little or no long-lasting effects. There is increasing concern, however, that this may not be the case.”
It is imperative, then, that the WHL and other junior hockey leagues err on the side of caution and work harder to get headshots — and fighting — out of the game. According to hockeyfights.com, there were more than 800 fights in the WHL’s  792 regular-season games in 2010-11.
The adults charged with the care of these players must do all they can to protect their charges.
It is becoming more and more evident that the cost of not doing so is far too high.

(Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, gdrinnan.blogspot.com and twitter.com/gdrinnan.)

The WHL and concussions: A mother cries out for help

Killian Hutt's season with the Swift Current Broncos came to an end
in Kamloops on Dec. 10.
(Photo by Murray Mitchell/Kamloops Daily News)

When Zdeno Chara ran Max Pacioretty into a turnbuckle in Montreal one night last week, who could have anticipated the aftermath?
Sheesh, even Air Canada and Via Rail got into the act, as did, predictably, the odd spotlight-seeking politician.
When things like this happen in places like Montreal and Boston, or Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, the tendency in our little corner of the world is to yawn, shrug and move on.
But if you are a fan of this great game of ours, perhaps you should be concerned. Because the rules changed this month.
When Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy revealed that the brain of former NHL enforcer Bob Probert exhibited "the same degenerative disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy" that is connected to multiple concussions, the curtains were pulled back to reveal a whole new world.
Who in this generation could relate to CTE having been found in the brain of Reggie Fleming, who played in the NHL in the 1960s? Probert, though, is a different story. He’s recent. He’s more relevant.
That this news came with Sidney Crosby, the best player in the world, struggling with post-concussion syndrome only intensified the glare of the spotlight.
The WHL, if you haven’t noticed, isn’t a whole lot different than the NHL. Oh, the NHL’s players may be bigger, faster and more skilled, and they may get paid more, but the problems are the same.
And just like head shots and accompanying injuries are an epidemic in the NHL, they are an epidemic in the WHL.
In fact, a case can be made that concussions are more prevalent in the WHL than in the NHL.
No official numbers are available regarding the NHL, but the 30-team league has acknowledged that there have been about 80 players diagnosed with concussions this season.
The 22-team WHL’s weekly injury list, dated March 15, shows 11 players out with what are described as concussions or head injuries. That’s down from 21 the previous week. A study of this season’s 24 injury reports shows at least 97 instances in which a player has been shown as being out with a concussion or head injury. Eight players have twice been so injured, while one player appears to have had three head injuries.
The count also includes at least three players whose concussions have been season-ending.
And now the mother of a WHL player is wondering when enough is enough.
An email from her contains the subject line: Who killed Davey Moore?
———
Davey Moore, an American featherweight boxer, died of inoperable brain damage on March 25, 1963, four days after losing a bout at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
Shortly after, Bob Dylan penned the ballad Who Killed Davey Moore?
“Who killed Davey Moore
“Why an’ what’s the reason for?”
During the course of the song, the referee, the angry crowd, Moore’s manager, the gambling man, the boxing writer and Moore’s opponent all deny complicity in the boxer’s death.
———
“I am the mother of a WHL player and I feel sick watching our children inflicting and receiving potentially life altering injuries and saying nothing,” she wrote.
This being hockey, of course, she asked for anonymity “in order not to damage my child’s chances.”
The email and subsequent communications reveal a woman who is heartbroken at what she is witnessing as hockey becomes more and more violent, although not in the bench-clearing ways of days of yore.
No, her son hasn’t suffered a concussion or head injury this season. But she has seen enough, just the same.
“The players work so hard to get to the WHL that we as parents are loathe to get in the way of their success,” she wrote. “So we stand by and watch a 19-year-old have a seizure on the ice in the name of entertainment for the crowd.
“Then a 16-year-old is being punched by a 19-year-old and the crowd is delighted.
“We all know this is not right. How can we as parents send our kids into this and not object to the failure of this league to adequately protect them? Nobody is protecting our children. These are not consenting adults with million dollar contracts and a players association.”
In Kamloops this season, we have watched as two players had their seasons ended by especially violent physical encounters.
First, on Dec. 10, Kamloops right-winger Jordan DePape drilled Swift Current forward Killian Hutt with a blind-side hit that drew a five-game suspension. Hutt went into convulsions, left the ice on a stretcher and spent a night in hospital. He was left with a severe concussion and, although he has skated, isn’t symptom free and won’t play again this season.
Then, on Feb. 4, Blazers defenceman Austin Madaisky was spun around and checked into the boards by Chilliwack Bruins defenceman Brandon Manning. Madaisky escaped a concussion but was left with a non-displaced fracture of the seventh cervicular vertebrae. Manning served a seven-game suspension; Madaisky continues to wear an Aspen collar and will for another couple of weeks. If the injury continues to heal properly, he will avoid surgery and will be back on the ice over the summer.
“When there is a spinal injury people will say, ‘That's hockey,’ ” the mother wrote. “But that's not true. These are preventable injuries and we are not even trying to prevent them; in fact, the WHL profits off them by catering to the bizarre tastes of some people in the crowd.
“This is not acceptable. These are our children. We are all responsible to them — parents, reporters, coaches, etc.
“They trust us and we betray that trust. When the consequences of those concussions hit home there will be no cheering crowds.”

(Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, gdrinnan.blogspot.com and twitter.com/gdrinnan.)