The Concussion Blog

So as I have stated, I was watching the NHL’s Winter Classic, and during that game I was prompted to write about the concussion problem in hockey.  Also during that game, Sidney Crosby took a big hit on the ice.  NBC showed the replay, which indicated to me he took a good shot that rattled his head quite a bit, and it took a professional hockey player quite a bit of strength and concentration to get to the bench.  If I remember correctly, Darren Pang reported that Crosby was being attended to at the end of the period and is “being helped” off the ice.  Take a look yourself…

This would have been a moot point for me had Sid not played for some time, but he didn’t.  In an 8-1 thrashing of the of the Lightning on Wednesday he did play just four days after the hit and now;

“Sidney’s got a mild concussion. That’s the update.”—Penguins coach Dan Bylsma, on the status of his team’s top star. Crosby is expected to miss a week.

This is exactly what the NHL did NOT need, a superstar pushing through and hiding his injury.  This also underlines what I have been SCREAMING about all year in the NHL–they hide their injuries, and concussions are a HUGE problem for them.

And maybe “mild” is not such a good term…