OFF-FIELD SPORTS TALK
PRACTICE CONTACT LIMITED
Ambrosie, a former CFL lineman, was relatively new to the job when his league took the step of limiting contact drills during practice.
In September, the CFL and its players association jointly announced the elimination of full-contact, padded practice during the regular season. By comparison, the NFL allows 11 padded practices through the first 11 weeks of the season and then three more after that.
B.C. Lions assistant coach Marcel Bellefeuille is in favour of limiting contact in practice.
“When I was at the collegiate level, we had zero contact after training camp,” said Bellefeuille, who led the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees to a Vanier Cup championship in 2000. “There was no live tackling. It teaches players to play with their feet and use their hands to be in good position.”
Bellefeuille said the contact restrictions keep players fresher and reduce practice injuries.
The CFL also plans to extend its schedule by one week in 2018 to allow more time for players to recover from games.
SUITS ON HOLD
Arland Bruce, a former star receiver in the CFL, is still awaiting an outcome on his bid to have the Supreme Court of Canada hear his case against the CFL. Bruce, who played 13 seasons for several CFL teams, said he has suffered permanent and disabling brain trauma from his football experience.
A separate class-action lawsuit in Ontario is on hold awaiting the outcome of the Bruce case. The pending Ontario lawsuit involves players who saw action between 1952 and 2014.
Robyn Wishart, the lawyer representing Bruce, told the Ottawa Citizen in late September that she has more than 200 explayers or their families signed on for the Ontario suit, a number that continues to grow.
CONCUSSION ‘CONVERSATIONS’
At the grassroots level, doctors and team trainers are being proactive.
Dr. Taryn Taylor, team doctor Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group teams (Redblacks, Fury, 67s), estimates she sees about 20 concussion patients per week in her general practice.
Some of these patients require months and even years to recover from post-concussion syndrome. In yet another capacity, Taylor works in sport medicine at Carleton University, a place where she sees some serious issues related to head trauma.
“Unfortunately, at the university level, I have a conversation every year (with a college athlete) about retiring from the sport because of concussions,” Taylor said.
Taylor offers to take the brunt of the athlete’s frustration.
“I say, ‘Be mad at me. Don’t be mad at your parents, your coach or your teammates,’ ” Taylor said. “I will let you back (to play) when it is safe. But be honest with me.”
CULTURE CHANGE
Concussion treatment and diagnosis has advanced dramatically even in the 12 years Taylor has been practicing medicine.
“We went from having a hockey player on the sidelines stand on one foot and touch his nose — and if he could do it, he could go back on — to now knowing it could take 24 hours to even have symptoms,” Taylor said at the Player’s Health Summit.
The motto from trainers working with amateur and professional teams is: “If in doubt, sit out.” Yet, we continue to find examples on TV of players taking head hits and returning to action.
On the whole, Taylor believes coaches are more aware of best practices when it comes to head trauma.
“I have seen a huge shift in the culture; it used to be a bit more of a challenge,” Taylor said. “I used to have to sell it. It wasn’t always a popular decision. I’m lucky to work with coaches who have had experience with concussions and are much more educated. It has made my life a lot easier. Unfortunately, while an ankle or knee injury usually comes with a specific diagnosis (for example: two to four weeks of recovery), concussions and their symptoms can be unpredictable.
“There is no magical treatment that makes them better, so I spend 30 to 40 minutes educating,” Taylor said. “What is the right thing to do now ... how are we going to work together to get through this?”
ROWAN’S LAW TRIUMPH
The death of Rowan Stringer, a Nepean rugby player who returned to action too soon following a concussion, sparked the creation of the Rowan’s Law Advisory Committee Act in 2016. That is expected to lead to legislation in Ontario to provide comprehensive guidelines governing amateur sport in schools and communities throughout the province.
The next goal is to establish concussion policy across the country. MPP Lisa MacLeod, who spoke at the Grey Cup Player’s Health Summit as well as the Concussion Legacy Foundation conference at Algonquin College, continues to champion the cause along with the Stringer family and advocates like retired hockey star Eric Lindros. MacLeod works at the grassroots level, but understands the importance of professional athletes taking their head health seriously.
“(They) are role models to so many kids who are rushing home on Saturday night to watch (them) on television,” McLeod said. “So when (they) speak and say I need to take my health seriously, kids listen.
“Kids playing sports are going to say, ‘Oh, I can’t mess with a head injury.’ ”
DRYDEN CALLS FOR BAN ON HEAD HITS
The year ended with a national book tour by Ken Dryden, the Hall of Fame goaltender and former NHL executive. Dryden’s book is called Game Change: The Life and Death of Steve Montador and the Future of Hockey. The change Dryden advocates is a ban on any and all hits to the head, whether incidental or not.
To personalize his call to arms, Dryden builds the book around the life and untimely death of Montador, a journeyman player who died at age 35 with evidence of CTE in his brain.
Dryden, who attended the same Cornell University as NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, calls on Bettman to do the right thing.
“You focus on no hits to the head. No excuses,” Dryden told the Montreal Gazette. “Whether it was intentional or not, with an elbow or a shoulder or a stick or a fist. Whether the head was targeted. The brain doesn’t distinguish, it’s the same blow.”
Whether Dryden’s plea results in action remains to be seen. Many casual hockey observers don’t see a problem with a penalty for all head hits, but guardians of the game — league general managers, among others — have shown reluctance to do so. Several years ago, the NHL altered Rule 48.1 to outlaw hits in which “the head was the main point of contact and such contact was avoidable.”
Where Dryden is especially brilliant is in describing the “finish your check” mantra, which wasn’t even a part of hockey in the 1950s and ’60s. Today’s speed allows players to get in on a check, a second or two late, and deliver a massive hit on a player who has already released the puck. Hit a guy without the puck and it’s an interference penalty. But hit him a second or two after he had the puck and — freebie!
“You’ve got a full head of steam going toward you, he’s kind of blind to you and plus he’s the one who made the successful play by making the pass and you’ve been the unsuccessful one, except you get all the benefits,” Dryden told TSN.