NHL 'enforcer' had brain trauma from concussions

[n2doc]

TECUMSEH, Ontario — Researchers at Boston University found a degenerative disease in brain tissue donated by former NHL enforcer Bob Probert, according to reports in the New York Times and the Globe and Mail in Toronto.

Probert had chronic traumatic encephalopathy when he died last July of heart failure at age 45. He played 16 seasons in the NHL and his 3,300 penalty minutes ranks fifth on the league’s career list.

Probert is the second hockey player from the program at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy to be diagnosed with the disease after death. Reggie Fleming, a 1960s enforcer who played before helmets became mandatory, also had CTE.

“How much is the hockey and how much is the fighting, we don’t really know,” Dr. Robert Cantu, the co-director of the center, told the Times for a story posted on its Web site Wednesday night. “We haven’t definitely established that the skills of hockey as a sport lead to a certain percentage of participants developing CTE. But it can happen to hockey players, and while they’re still relatively young.”

http://www.freep.com/article/20110303/SPORTS05/110303014/Bob-Probert-s-brain-shows-signs-trauma-researchers-say

[On the Road]

1. As Far as This Question:

“How much is the hockey and how much is the fighting, we don’t really know...."

If you watch any hockey at all, you would have to think that the fighting is nothing compared to the hitting, collisions, boarding, etc. The first step the league needs to take is to eliminate the requirements for touch-ups on icing calls, which often send both an offensive and a defensive player into the boards at high speed.

This is another sport which in all likelihood got worse after the helmet requirement was instituted. It resulted in much more aggressive play than was possible when players had an exposed head.