After years of virtually ignoring the issue of career-ending concussions, the NHL appears to be beginning to take the issue seriously. But what about the younger players, the ones just learning the sport or moving up the ranks of the game?
The prestigious Mayo Clinic is taking an in-depth look at the issue this week in a two-day conference on concussions in hockey.
Dr. Michael Stuart is spearheading the conference, hoping to find ways to fix the problem long before players move on to the big leagues.
"The NHL has been working on this for some time," Stuart told CTV's Canada AM from the conference in Rochester, Minn.
"They're making rules changes. It's a step in the right direction, certainly. Our focus is mostly on youth and adolescents. We know there's quite an increased prevalence of concussion and we think there are many different ways we can prevent them," he said.
Stuart, a professor of orthopedic surgery at the Mayo and the chief medical officer for USA Hockey, is not just approaching the problem from the perspective of medicine. He's also a hockey dad himself.
Stuart's son is Boston Bruins defenceman Mark Stuart. His daughter, Cristin, played hockey for Boston College; while two other sons, Colin and Mike, played for the Atlanta Thrashers and St. Louis Blues respectively.
Stuart says concussions are nothing new to hockey. They've ended the careers of players such as Eric Lindros, Pat LaFontaine and Scott Stevens. What is new is their increased prevalence and, finally, a better awareness of how dangerous repeated concussions can be.
"Through educational programs, I think parents and coaches and athletes and health care providers are now better able to recognize the symptoms of concussions," Stuart said.
"When my kids were little and back when I played sports, we tended not to take those symptoms very seriously and we now know that's a mistake. We need to make a diagnosis, remove athletes from play immediately, have them seek care from a health care professional, and then determine when they can return to play, depending upon how they recover from the concussion," he said.
This week's "Ice Hockey Summit: Action on Concussion" conference brings together physicians, trainers, equipment engineers, and others from Canada, the U.S. and Europe. Representatives from the NHL, USA Hockey, and youth leagues will also be there.
While the NHL has already introduced new rules to combat head injuries, such as banning blindside hits to the head, the focus of this conference will be on how concussions affect children, and how sports organizations should better react to the injuries.
In short, "we're trying to reduce the risk, the severity and the consequences of concussions in the sport of hockey," Stuart said.
