The NHL's CTE/Suicide problem

JT AM da real deal

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Oct 4, 2018
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So.let.them go flip.burgers at McDonald's for minimum wage.

Better be careful of them fryer's though. Might get boo-boo from the hot oil. Go home and have mommy kiss it better after.

These are grown ass men.

They're not children. If they're so afraid of getting into a fight don't do it. They can always do something else.

Nobody is forcing them to do it.

I don't buy this argument for one minute. I'm sorry but it doesn't pass the sniff test. It sounds like the Nuremberg defence for hockey players.

I was just doing what I was told.
Yes thank god things are changing for da better .. but for 40 years until mid 2000s a ton of guys still made or got cut from junior teams based on early camp fights .. it was completely true if you didn't respond to a shoulder tap or you turned away from a helpless team-mate you were going back to junior B .. and for nhl guys they were going back to A/I etc .. this was da reality for all of us .. this is how da CODE was created and why us older hokey guys can't click it out of their minds .. it is embedded in us .. we see something wrong happen on ice and we immediately react to da CODE .. until we all pass away and are out of decision making roles things will not change quickly .. like I said it is like a religion .. we are like cult followers that way
 

hfman

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Oct 30, 2013
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Wrestlers and NFL have a lot more jarring impacts to the head and really all in all the numbers aren't that bad really. They are bad in the sense that there is a problem but I could find a problem with downhill skiing if I looked at the amount of major injuries due to that sport. I can find major injuries in plenty of professions that aren't even well paying.

I think these are out to lunch trying to bubblewrap the world.



Plenty of Athletes take their lives. Plenty of divorcees, stock traders and the list goes on and on.
This is what I'm saying.

To suggest that players taking their own lives is a direct and sole result of fighting in hockey really pushing it. These players are taking bumps all game every game, to the head, the body, the legs, you name it - they are taking far more bumps this way as opposed to a bunch of 1-minute fights where any HARD punch connecting to the head was always few and far between. If we calculate the amount of time involved in an actual fight and how many hits were HARD hits to the head. MOST fights were and still are missed punches. Yes they did take quite a few knocks to the head but they took hundreds more along the boards and just playing the game. For every fight an enforcer was in, he took a thousand MORE bumps over the span of his entire career just competing out on the ice. Bodychecks along the boards are just as responsible for causing serious injuries, including to the head.

If a player has CTE, the mob says it's directly because he was involved with fights as an enforcer, which would have made up 2% of their entire career playing the game on a whole. But the rest of us adults say that it's caused by a number of things, including the remaining 98% of their career that they spent playing a hard-hitting rough-and-touch style of game and taking bumps that way. And then whatever else they did outside of the game which is 1/4 to 1/2 the rest of the year.

This is the usual internet mob with pitchforks in hand lol. Hence why the NHL isn't budging. There's nothing to budge off of.
 
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therealkoho

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Jul 10, 2009
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At some point, the NHL is going to be held liable for the many cases of CTE, ex hockey players, and especially ex enforcers end up with, that unfortunately have resulted in many suicides. We all enjoy a good tilt, but the question at some point in time, is going to be at what cost? Chris Simon took his life yesterday, after long struggles related to CTE, Depression, anxiety, and more.


Probert, Boogard, Belak, Rypien, Montador, Ewen, Greg Johnson all guys who were enforcers, or fought a lot... all dead by suicide.




It should be clear, that at some point, the NHL is going to be held responsible for this, and that part of the game will need to be limited. In addition, the NHL is going to need to take head shots as a whole more seriously, as it's probable that there will be correlations drawn there too.
Proberts' cause of death was a massive coronary, when he was out fishing with his kids and father in law
 

therealkoho

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Jul 10, 2009
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Hockey culture? A big, intimidating guy like him with marginal skill was best utilized as an enforcer. His role was likely defined early on, and it's no coincidence that he racked up the PIMs and fights over the course of his career that he did.

No different than players being told their offensive skills in the lower leagues will not translate well to the NHL, and they'll have to adjust their roles accordingly (ie. 3rd line checking, two way centre).
Marginal?

Did you ever see him play? He had decent wheels, good hockeyQ, an NHL shot and release. He wasn't just some goon.

Sorry about that my brain probably affected by concussions too .. I noticed in last year or two I can't find or remember da right words .. but I am happy that hockey has changed and my kids were not subject to da tap on da shoulder by a coach or thrown in toilet room to drink a 24 and then shaved bald and left taped on a gurney freezing at center ice naked until waking up from being passed out on alcohol .. there was so much wrong about hockey back in my day in mid 70s and early 80s .. hockey was its own religion and a ton of it was flat out wrong .. even da puck bunnies coming onto da bus to s*ck everyone off which at time i thought was great was completely immature .. those coaches were adults and they should have controlled things but da attitude back then was well I went through it when I played and whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger kid .. wow it was a completely different world and no matter what you say it scars you for life as those memories never go away ever .. then we grow up and have wives and daughters and we realize what jerks we were
It's weird too that you seem to have forgotten how to spell "the!"
 
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Da Mash

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Jul 14, 2022
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The NHL promotes goons….just look at how the playoffs are offficiated.

It’s the Don Cherry brainwash that has convinced a lot of fans thats called “heart”

Now they wear plastic armour and shields and most fights are like children playing patty cakes.

But the hits to the head and crosschecks to the neck are still happening. You have punks cross checking you from behind to get you off balance and crash into the boards.

Rock and Sockem

The NHL is not like other sports that promote their stars. They have convinced fans that 4 on 4 overtime and shootouts is enough to appease the fans that want more skill.

Another reason the rinks will never get bigger like Olympic size. Owners don’t want to lose the first few rows. So they put bigger faster guys with plastic armour and shield on smaller ice and then say they are doing all they can for players safety.

Only sport that changes rules in playoffs to benefit goons
 
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nsleaf

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Oct 21, 2009
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A quick Google search shows the suicide rate among male athletes to be 1.35 per 100,000 with football being the highest at 2.2/100,000.

General population rate is 9.9/100,000.
 

ClarkSittler

Registered User
Mar 25, 2014
1,585
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At some point, the NHL is going to be held liable for the many cases of CTE, ex hockey players, and especially ex enforcers end up with, that unfortunately have resulted in many suicides. We all enjoy a good tilt, but the question at some point in time, is going to be at what cost? Chris Simon took his life yesterday, after long struggles related to CTE, Depression, anxiety, and more.


Probert, Boogard, Belak, Rypien, Montador, Ewen, Greg Johnson all guys who were enforcers, or fought a lot... all dead by suicide.




It should be clear, that at some point, the NHL is going to be held responsible for this, and that part of the game will need to be limited. In addition, the NHL is going to need to take head shots as a whole more seriously, as it's probable that there will be correlations drawn there too.

Probert died of a heart attack, so did Montador. Boogaard didn't commit suicide either, he died of an accidental drug overdose . That leaves five guys who killed themselves out of the 256 listed below. That list is also missing players who fought quite a bit in their careers like Wendel Clark, Can Neely, Rick Tocchet, Darryl Sittler, Wayne Cashman, Pat Boutette, Gordie Howe, Brian Spencer, Todd Gill, Eric Lindros and many, many more.


While it's tragic when anyone commits suicide and CTE is a problem let's not pretend it's some type of epidemic.

Many more race car drivers have lost their lives participating in a sport they love, they didn't ban auto racing, they tried to make it safer. The NHL is doing the same with mandatory helmet and visor use, steep penalties for headshots and stricter officiating.

Fighting is part of the game, if you want no contact hockey, flag football and UFC without knockouts I suggest Curling or Tennis as an alternative.
 

hfman

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Oct 30, 2013
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both messages a few above this one are facts

It's the usual anonymous internet mob stirring up sh*t.

Good luck directly linking hockey player suicides to fighting. That's about as far a stretch as you can get. What they are basically saying is that these enforcers who took their own lives took them because they were fighters in the game. They're saying fighting led to CTE which led to suicide. What a claim.

Completely nuts but this is the state of the internet nowadays. The mob creates the first post, and hundreds more mobsters will reply. And then considering 9 out of 10 people are straight up stupid, we have thousands and thousands of people believing all of it because they have no idea how to stop and think for themselves for a second.

Not saying fighting has *zero* to do with it but hell it's a giant mountain to climb to ever directly link fighting to suicides. A single bump to your head when you were 10 years old could very well contribute to CTE later in life, right? Or maybe not? How the hell will you prove it?

No wonder the NHL is ignoring these internet mobsters.
 
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Sypher04

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Jan 20, 2011
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we get very concerned about professionals, going in with eyes wide open, and their safety.

and yet, very little concern about humans in much worse working conditions, for much less money.

but you don't get the same warm feelies when you point that out. better to talk about those making millions for an exposure they entered eyes wide open.

I don’t think that’s true at all. I understand that the players know and accept the risks by choosing to participate, and I get they are rich, but they just happen to be the subject of this specific discussion. However, poor working conditions of many groups of workers of all types are actually talked about quite a lot

Sure, not everyone cares which is unfortunate but I would suggest the same people who express concerns here about long term health of these players would also similarly have concern regarding those in far worse situations.
 
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Canadian Finn

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Feb 21, 2014
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I would suggest the same people who express concerns here about long term health of these players would also similarly have concern regarding those in far worse situations.
I agree with you here.

Sure, not everyone cares which is unfortunate

I disagree with you here. It isn't unfortunate. Many fully understand how professional sports work (as well as many high risk high pay standard jobs). It isn't unfortunate that not everyone cares.

Why should everyone care when the players/workers themselves don't care?
 

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