It should come as little surprise a hockey player’s brain has shown the devastating effects of years of collisions with sticks and boards and fists.
The late Reggie Fleming, a hard-as-nails NHL enforcer whose career ended in 1970-71 after 12 seasons, was found to have suffered from CTE (chronic toxic encephalopathy), a degenerative disease of the brain more often associated with football linebackers and boxers.
Taking a look at Fleming’s career line, what jumps out are the 1,468 minutes in penalties he racked up in 749 games with the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and Buffalo Sabres.
Make no mistake about it: Fleming was a fighter.
“I had to protect guys,” Fleming told his son, Chris, in a series of sometimes-touching interviews you can see on youtube.com. Fleming’s body is feeble, showing the ravages of injury only now discovered, and he is reduced to having the mobility of only his right arm after suffering a stroke.
“It’s either me and them or . .. nobody.”
The issue of concussions and brain trauma has taken on a needed urgency within the ranks of the NHL, with the topic discussed at length during the NHL board of governors meetings Tuesday and Wednesday in Pebble Beach, Calif.
The NHL’s discussions at the governors’ level centred on the way the game has changed over the years, how the speed of the game has increased with the rule changes post-lockout and how the forces of the 50,000 collisions that take place in the NHL every season have increased. What has spurred most of this conversation – and will likely result in rule changes to be proposed by the general managers at their meetings in March – have been the so-called predatory hits.
Those are hits from the side or behind upon an unsuspecting player, even though the player being hit is often at least as responsible for the circumstances by turning his back along the boards or having his head down while crossing the middle of the ice.
I’m not a doctor or scientist, but the fact Fleming’s brain was afflicted with CTE in tests conducted at Boston University probably has less to do with the type of hits the NHL is discussing now and more to do with the fact he made his living in the NHL as a fighter. His family has said he suffered perhaps as many as 20 concussions.
His son, Chris, said in one of the videos he has a picture of his dad knocked cold in a fight with Eddie Shack.
“He never hit me,” said Reggie, 73. “You’re wrong.”
What has happened to Reggie Fleming should bring fighting and its resulting damage into the discussion of what the NHL does moving forward regarding head trauma. What’s the difference between a blow to the head with a shoulder or one with a fist? The brain doesn't know the difference.
I love a good hockey fight as much as anybody, but I just can’t see how the NHL can take up the battle against headshots and leave fighting out of the discussion (other than many in the game believing fighting is one of its big selling points). Maybe because both parties (usually) consent to a fight and the predatory hit is on an unsuspecting opponent?
The NHL has been proactive on the headshots issue lately and that’s good. Commissioner Gary Bettman said at the board of governors meetings this week the NHL was the first league to have baseline testing to help determine if a player had been concussed.
Again, good.
But anybody who thinks nobody gets hurt in a fight should consider the growing evidence – click on youtube.com and search “Reggie Fleming.”
chris.stevenson@sunmedia.ca
