Posted on 05/14/2011 10:40:24 AM PDT by nuconvert
-excerpt-
The 28-year-old player was found dead Friday in his Minneapolis apartment. The team announced his death Friday but gave no details.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Just a thought. There isn't anything in particular in the article that might suggest a cause of death.
Shhhh.
We’re not supposed to be speculating on his possible cause of death.
I was wondering if his concussion and being forced out of the game had caused him to suffer depression.
Ping...
*IF* the cause was concussion related, it is finally going to force the league to deal with the issue. Lots of high profile concussion injuries, plus the death of Bob Probert, in the news this year. The players are highly concerned, as they should be. I spoke with a former NHL’er a few weeks ago and he agrees with Lindros - not being able to slow down a forward on things like dumpins (now being called as obstruction) is the leading cause. If you can’t slow down a guy well over 6 feet and well over 200lbs, chances are when you collide at those speeds it’s not going to be good.
As crazy as this may sound, I believe what is contributing to all the injuries in hockey and football is the quality of their equipment. Players, sensing they are better protected by pads, are hurtling themselves full force at one another. Maybe that’s crazy...but, if you watch a football game these days, you will see guys “launching” themselves (that is exactly how announcers will call it in their play by plays) at each other.
I don’t recall there being the number of injuries (particularly head injuries) back in the 60’s, 70’s that you see today. I’m not saying they didn’t occur, but I don’t recall them happening in such large numbers.
Back then it was called getting your bell rung. Remember Jim Brown in his hey day taking big hits and soldiering on like it was no big deal ... like in "is that all you've got pal?". Except in one game he took a hard hit and got up ... and as usual trotted back to the huddle. Only problem ... it was the wrong huddle.
Yes, but if you watch the whole nature of these high-contact sports, there is a different level of ferocity that marks the collisions. It is almost as if people are trying to use themselves as battering rams. But when you watch the old-time players like Butkus, Nietschke (sp.?) etc. they were, for the most part not leading with the head (the shoulders maybe) but they were trying to “wrap-up” with the arms.
Same thing in hockey. You see mid-ice collisions now that are intentional—this seldom happened in the game (that I recall). And we won’t even talk about all the “drilling into the boards” that happens now. Back in the days of Bobby Hull, Gordie Howe, and others, those checks were, for the most part, coming from the side, not right on.
First rule that needs to be implemented is allowing defensemen to tie up forechecking forwards. Second rule to be implemented is intent to injure on north/south, east/west checks. These are the mid ice collisions you tend to see,where a player lines up another player.
Finally, convert rinks to Olympic size. Players are too big, too fast and too strong to play on such a small surface. Plus this will open up a passing and skating game even more.
I posted these links on another thread.
http://www.startribune.com/sports/wild/121813554.html
Boogaard, who signed a four-year, $6.5 million contract with the Rangers last July after five seasons with the Wild, was limited to 22 games in New York because of a serious concussion. In March, he talked about how he never had experienced anything like it. He barely could leave his West Side apartment for weeks and had to wear sunglasses outdoors because he was bothered by sunlight.
He took solace in walks around Central Park.
In a text message to the Star Tribune last month, Boogaard said: “I did not want to have the year I had for my first year. I disappointed a lot of people. So I gotta work my (butt) off this summer so I can get back to what I was doing in Minny, you know?”
http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/Boogaard+found+dead+Minneapolis+home/4783628/story.html
Boogaard, from Regina, had spent the past week in Los Angeles with his brother, Aaron, a minor-league hockey player, who played two seasons for the Calgary Hitmen from 2002 to 2004. In a text message to the Star Tribune on Thursday, Boogaard said he had just met with a public relations firm and planned to start a Twitter account.
He was ecstatic to be returning to Minnesota, where he was going to be joined by his other brother, Ryan, a Royal Canadian Mountie in Saskatchewan.
PREVIOUSLY ...
http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/slapshot/rangers_boogaard_working_with_doctor_7demqBno5Wz7ac7wJq9QtO
February 3, 2011 By LARRY BROOKS
Derek Boogaard is the forgotten man. Out of sight and out of mind. Beyond that, the concussed Rangers’ winger is out of New York as well. For the time being, that is.
The Post has learned that Boogaard, who has been sidelined since taking a Matt Carkner punch to the face during a fight in Ottawa on Dec. 9, is in Minneapolis, working with a doctor of osteopathic medicine with whom he has a previous relationship from his tenure with the Wild.
There is no timetable for Boogaard’s return, but sources have said the 28-year-old winger is making progress toward a recovery from the symptoms that had plagued him following the fight and leading up to the All Star break.
Posted: 1:39 AM, April 12, 2011
Derek Boogaard, who has not played since sustaining a concussion on Dec. 9, has been sent home by the Rangers, The Post has learned.
Boogaard had started to skate on his own and participated in several optional morning skates at the practice rink during the middle of March even though a return this year had been ruled out. General manager Glen Sather declined to elaborate on the out-of-the-ordinary decision to send the player home.
I am just stunned by this. If this story were about Crosby instead of Boogaard, I would be crying my self to sleep at night.
Yup, that’s exactly what the former NHL’er was talking about. Allowing the defenseman to engage the onrushing forward. Alot of people will complain that it will slow down the game but I like your idea of going to Olympic sized rinks to deal with that. Plus it would help during international competitions.
Boogie is a legend to Wild fans ... loved for his presence on and off the ice.
Regarding the issue of equipment.
Do you remember when they first started wearing helmets. Everyone was worried that sticks would be carried higher.
Lo & behold that is exactly what happened until the penalty started to be called regularly. Then the stick work lessened.
It’s never good when the young die early and this applies to those that protect us as well as entertain us.
He donated his brain to science and they discovered severe abnormalities caused by constant trauma to the head. The belief is the trauma was a result from the concussions more so than the fights. This particular condition is said to make you feel as if you are going mad.
He was recovering from a recent concussion that was giving him serious headaches. I read a report where he couldn’t stand lights, and needed sunglasses wherever he went.
I’ve been watching for the coroners’ report to find out the facts about his death.
From all accounts, he was a nice guy who did a lot of work with youth hockey players in his home state of Minnesota.
Keep in mind also that the NHL, in an effort to “speed the game up”, did away with the red line, with respect to the two line pass.
It really opened up the middle of the rink, and allowed the players to gain more speed heading into the ends.
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