PUTTING ON THE FOIL NOT WITHOUT PITFALLS
Slap Shot stars say they know too well that concussions are no joke
Long before he landed an iconic role in Slap Shot, Dave Hanson was a rough-and-tumble hockey player who knew how to rack up the penalty minutes.
He had a long career that began before the movie was filmed in 1976 and continued until 1984. He played in the North American, Southern, Central, American and International hockey leagues. He also played 103 games in the World Hockey Association and 33 in the NHL.
He amassed 2,558 penalty minutes and became famous for throwing fists, dishing out big hits and causing havoc on the ice.
Looking back, he now knows it took a toll.
“I can look back and tell you now that I had concussions,” Hanson said this week while in Winnipeg for the Slap Shot 40th Anniversary Golf Tournament.
“The treatment then was sit on the bench, see how you feel later and if you’re alert, and you don’t puke all night long, you’re playing the next day.”
One of the movie’s famed Hanson brothers, along with Jeff and Steve Carlson, Dave and many of his fellow stars of the 1977 hockey cult classic took part in the tournament to help raise money for Stop Concussions, an organization founded by Winnipegger Kerry Goulet and former NHL star Keith Primeau.
Their involvement in the concussion awareness campaign seems almost ironic given that Slap Shot satirized the most violent aspects of hockey — yet the stars understand the key to limiting brain injuries in the game is education.
“Forty years ago when the movie came out, you weren’t aware of concussions and the life-changing effects they can have,” Hanson said. “Fortunately, 40 years later, we’re all still together, we’re alive and in good health. Some of us in this group have concussion symptoms to this day, so it’s great for us to have an opportunity to come out and be a part of this type of event and be involved.”
Hanson, who played Jack Hanson in the movie, was joined by Jeff Carlson (Jeff Hanson), Jerry Houser (Dave (Killer) Carlson), Yvon Barette (Denis Lemieux), Allan F. Nicholls (Johnny Upton) and Paul D’Amato (Tim (Dr. Hook) McCracken) for the golf tournament Tuesday.
Another one-time hockey pugilist who took part was former Winnipeg Jet Jimmy Mann, who had 895 penalty minutes in 293 NHL games.
He said concussions will never be completely eliminated from any sport. Their effects will be limited, however, by leagues following protocols, athletes understanding they need to look after themselves and players knowing it’s OK to sit a game out.
“The worst one I ever had, the one I really remember, was when I went to hit Lindy Ruff in Buffalo — I was playing in Quebec then — and I missed him and hit the boards,” said Mann, 58. “I didn’t even have time to put my hand up. I didn’t know where I was and everything.
“You go to the bench and they said, ‘You OK Jim?’ ‘Well, not really, sore neck.’ Next game: ‘You OK?’ ‘Not bad.’ ‘OK, let’s go.’ So you go out and play. There was no protocol.
“The league has a lot of pressure behind them to do it now, but we have to make sure we really take care of these players. It’s starting. I think more needs to be done, but at least they are aware.”
A recent study at Boston University showed that 110 of 111 brains of former National Football League players showed signs of CTE, a degenerative brain disease that has been linked to concussions.
Similar findings have been found in the brains of former NHL players, and those who played in the rough-and-tumble ’70s and ’80s fully understand the seriousness of the situation.
“We don’t know,” Mann said. “For sure, you worry about it. Sometimes you feel a certain way and you say, ‘Is it because I’ve had concussions? Is it because I’m getting older?’ I’m only 58, so you don’t know. You do wonder what’s going to happen. As of now, it’s not too bad — but you never know.”
Goulet, whose European hockey career was cut short by concussions, collaborated with Primeau, who retired from the NHL because of concussions, on the book Concussed, released in 2012.
Working in conjunction with Barry Munro from the Canadian Spinal Research Organization and Shoot for the Cure, Goulet’s aim is to raise money and spread the word about the devastating effects of concussions, prevention and treatment.
“We wanted to let athletes know they’re not alone,” Goulet said. “It’s a dark, invisible injury and a lot of us that go through it think we’re the only ones.
“We want people to know that if they are hurt, they can seek the proper help, get to the right people, ask the right questions. Just make sure you educate yourself on it.
“All of this awareness makes a difference. The toughest challenge is changing a mindset. We were trained as athletes to suck it up, play through the pain and win at all costs. I think we’re starting to see a change in the NHL and the NFL and we’re seeing people really starting to take an understanding. We are losing far too many athletes to suicide (or) drug, alcohol issues. … We stuck our head in the sand for many years and now we know we’ve got to do something about it.”
It is debatable whether professional leagues are doing enough to protect their athletes. There has been litigation in both the NFL and NHL because players of past eras were not protected well enough.
Goulet is not a proponent of that type of action, nor does he want to see a world where people stop playing sports for fear of suffering debilitating injuries.
“We want kids to play sports,” he said. “Hockey is so much more than the actual game itself and we want kids to experience that.
“However, there’s a caveat to that: We’ve got to make sure that if you are playing sports, get educated. If you’re a parent putting your kid in sport, just understand that cause, effect and consequences. If there are injuries, follow proper protocols to allow your young son or daughter or even yourself to come back and play and play safe. We want to mitigate the risk — we’re not going to eliminate it.”
Dr. Glen Bergeron, director of the Heads Up Concussion Institute at the University of Winnipeg, said protocols, education and awareness are steps in the right direction, but are not enough to bring this serious problem under control.
“We need to have more than that,” Bergeron said. “We need to educate every level, every facet of sport. The athletes definitely need to be educated more because they are all out there for the highlight reel, for the applause.
“From an athlete perspective, they have to understand that any major hit to the head can cause catastrophic injury … or death to somebody, and they have to stop and think about that. This whole notion of ‘It was in the heat of the moment’ is not acceptable.”
Bergeron said the science surrounding CTE and the long-term effects of concussion over time — not only physically, but mentally, emotionally and socially — need to be emphasized more strongly.
“We need to be bringing that story out and saying it’s much more than just being out of a game for a week or two,” he said. “It can have a cumulative effect.
“We need to inform our fans, our parents, our coaches, our officials, our administrations, the business of hockey or football. There’s an awful lot more to do and the more and more we learn, the more we have to educate.”
Bergeron said hundreds of athletes in both Canada and the United States are now donating their brains to science.
“They’re saying there has been some significant effects to my life and my family’s life and I need to be able to put some closure to that,” Bergeron said.
“It’s also about not wanting anybody else’s life to be affected the same way.”
Bergeron applauded the Slap Shot stars and people like Goulet and Mann for lending their voices to the movement.
“The appropriate steps are starting to happen, discussion is happening, a huge awareness has developed,” he said, “and these guys have been a part of that.”