Letter: Encouraged to see former NHL players file concussion lawsuit



As a nurse at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, I have seen first-hand the devastating effects caused by the violence that pervades present-day hockey.

A “headshot,” a “hit from behind” or simply a fight between two players is often enough to cause significant brain damage such as a concussion or an intracranial hemorrhage and, in some cases, a broken neck leading to paralysis. These injuries can be irreversible and have already caused a great deal of heartache and pain to many young hockey players, be they amateurs or professionals.

A concussion can lead to learning disabilities, headaches, memory-loss, dizziness and the end of one’s career. When the brain bleeds, bad things happen, because there is very little room for it to expand inside a closed skull. In a matter of hours, one can die from a cerebral hemorrhage without proper intervention from a neurosurgeon, and, even if the pressure created from a bleeding brain is relieved in time, things like stroke and herniation are always a distinct possibility.

When the vertebrae in one’s back or neck are fractured, the shards of bone can pierce the spinal cord leading to complete paralysis, and the inability to breathe. The combination of living in a wheelchair for a prolonged period of time and of dealing with a tracheotomy (a hole in your neck so that you can breathe with aid of a machine) are particularly hard to take, making one wonder how it is that hockey players are allowed to fight each other on open ice or hit each other from behind with little or sometimes no repercussions at all.

I am encouraged to see that 10 former NHLers are filing a class-action lawsuit against the league claiming it hasn’t done enough to protect players from concussions. One has to believe that the players have a very strong case. How could the league not have known that when a player is exposed to repeated head injuries, he is at a greater risk for illnesses and disabilities both during a career and later on in life? The league’s penalty system for an “illegal head shot” is, let’s face it, a joke. A millionaire can easily pay off the measly fine he is charged for such an offence and serve the required short suspension that is possibly imposed.

Fights in hockey, particularly in professional hockey, happen in almost every game, so do headshots and hits from behind; the question is why? Gary Bettman and the league’s deputy commissioner Bill Daly, who shamefully defended player safety in his response to the lawsuit, are doing one thing and one thing only: protecting their assets. Their main asset is money, and that money comes from fans.

Personally, I am not a hockey fan but, I am fascinated by 20,000 people standing on their feet when a fight breaks out between a Boston Bruin and a Montreal Canadien. It is exciting to see fans booing Zdeno Chara every time he even touches the puck when playing against the Habs as he has become our arch enemy for breaking Max Pacioretty’s neck two years ago during a controversial hit for which he only received a game misconduct. Fans like violence, they pay to see it and that’s why it still exists. There is one foolproof way to stop it: fans need to stop going to games and stand up for all the young men who have suffered trying to fulfill a disturbing expectation of violence and trickling blood. It will not take long for a professional hockey player to either die or sustain the tragic injuries I have seen too many teenagers experience. Many fans have sons and daughters who play hockey. They have a duty to protect them, as well.

In 2001, the 10th Friday the 13th movie was released, aptly named Jason X. During one of its many terrible scenes, its writer Todd Farmer has one of the actors saying that “the sport of hockey was completely banned in 2024.” How is it that an awful but funny horror movie is able to see what hockey fans cannot admit to themselves?

Nathan Friedland



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