CONCUSSION RECOVERY
Habs’ Parenteau offers perspective
In one graceful motion, Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau picked up a pass in front of the Canadiens net and made a hairpin turn toward centre ice.
He gathered speed as he entered the neutral zone, attempting to circumvent New Jersey Devils winger Tuomo Ruutu. Parenteau then briefly lost control of the puck, leaning forward to reel it back in.
That’s when Devils forward Tom Sestito entered the frame. He was waiting for Parenteau at centre ice and, at the last minute, propelled himself into Parenteau’s helmet. Now Parenteau’s head jerked back, his feet swept toward the rafters and he crashed onto the hard playing surface.
The memory of that Jan. 2 game haunted Parenteau for two months. The Sestito hit sidelined him with a concussion and took away his ability to perform the one job he’s ever known. It was only after a lengthy rehabilitation process — most of which was spent in isolation — that Parenteau finally returned to action in March.
“As pro hockey players, we establish this routine, this very regimented way of life. And then you get hurt and you’re completely lost,” Parenteau said. “Especially with a concussion. You don’t see your teammates anymore, you can’t train at all, you can’t do anything, there’s a lot of time spent alone.”
Experts say that for professional athletes, a major injury initiates a sort of grieving process, something that could transform into a deep depression in the worst cases.
“The athlete has to go through a range of emotions, from anger to acceptance,” said Stan J. Rog, a psychologist and sports psychologist.
“You’ve prepared your body and your mind to get through this intense sequence of motions and suddenly you can’t do that anymore. It strikes to a person’s very identity, there’s a period of, ‘ Well, what am I going to do now?’”
Rog says that in addition to the physical pain of a wound, an injury can bring on a degree of emotional instability.
“The injury isolates you. There’s still a shame factor, it’s small, but it’s there,” he told the Montreal Gazette. “You’re injured and somehow you got yourself in this situation. It’s not the gods that put this upon you. There’s a certain amount of selfdirection toward that, you know, and that puts more pressure, psychologically, on a person.”
Furthermore, Rog says, athletes spend a career training their minds to be in the moment — or, as the old cliché goes, taking it one game at a time. If they don’t learn how to turn that kind of singular focus off, it can further alienate them from the reality of being injured.
To hear Parenteau talk about it, the head injury was just a small setback in a career spent overcoming adversity. The Canadiens forward is quick to mention that he had to trudge it out for seven years in the minors before his first full season in the National Hockey League.
“Injuries, they’re part of the game, I knew what I was getting myself into when I signed that contract,” Parenteau said. “It’s not fun but it’s part of this life.”
Still, Parenteau admits the process of recovering from a concussion can be emotionally taxing.
“It’s scary, other injuries have a time frame, head injuries don’t,” he said. “That’s what makes it frightening."
Devante Smith- Pelly, who joined the Canadiens during Parenteau’s absence, says there’s nothing to prepare athletes for the low they’ll experience from being wounded on the job.
“Your team becomes a family and, all of a sudden, they’re going on a road trip and you’re left behind,” said Smith- Pelly, who broke his foot during his rookie season with the Anaheim Ducks. “Things are moving forward for them but you’re stuck in the same place.”
Perhaps that is the most challenging aspect of injuries in pro sports. In the two months Parenteau sat on the shelf, the team went on winning streaks, new players carved their way into the Habs lineup, life went on without him. The 32- year- old says that, as he stood in the press box, watching his teammates compete, he noticed the games intensifying as the NHL playoffs approached.
“That was the hardest part,” Parenteau said. “I could see my buddies have fun and win, I could see the pace of the games picking up but all I could do was watch. … I was lucky to have my wife and kids by my side for some of those days. I don’t know what I would have done without them.”
Even when the worst concussion symptoms subsided, Parenteau still couldn’t train with his teammates. While the Canadiens worked five on five drills at their practice facility in Brossard, Parenteau skated alone in a powder blue “no contact” jersey on a separate rink.
Just a few hundred feet from the other players, he sped up and down the ice, stickhandling the puck and shooting it hundreds of times to stay sharp.
“The trouble with bouncing back is, you can’t simulate the intensity of a game on your own,” he said. “Especially when you’ve been out for so long.”
Parenteau finally got his chance to come back on March 3, playing limited minutes in a 4- 0 loss to the San Jose Sharks. He would go on to be a healthy scratch for the next few games, showing signs of frustration but clearly hustling to get back in the game. After a few more tentative matches, Parenteau went on to notch four points in five games and appears to be back in game shape.
The culminating moment came while the Canadiens nearly mounted a comeback against the Tampa Bay Lightning two weeks ago. As Parenteau pressed on the forecheck, he saw that his linemate Tomas Plekanec recovered a puck deep and reacted immediately, cutting in from of the Lightning net. From there, Plekanec hit Parenteau with a quick pass and the Canadiens forward hurled the puck into the back of the net. Suddenly, the memory of having his brain rattle in New Jersey seemed a distant one.
“It took some time, but I got my legs back under me,” he said. “I have my confidence back, I feel like I did at the beginning of the year.”