No one disputes the place Hall of Famer Ken Dryden holds in hockey history, as goalie for the storied Montreal Canadiens of the early ’70s and the iconic Canada-Russia matchup of 1972. No one disputes the lawyer and former MP’s love for the game either, which he chronicled in his best-selling books, The Game and Home Game.
But with his new book, Game Change, Dryden makes a case for fundamental changes to professional hockey, a proposal that, not surprisingly, is receiving some push-back rather than love. While Dryden advocates for new penalties around head hits to minimize risk of concussion and possible long-term consequences, others involved in contact sports say there’s no direct link between head hits/concussion and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
But Dryden IS connecting those dots in Game Change. Woven around the life of NHL defenceman (and onetime Calgary Flame) Steve Montador, who was diagnosed with CTE after his untimely death in 2015 at age 35. The book is Steve’s story but also one dedicated to tomorrow’s players, and sees Dryden offering a prescriptive for what he says is the greatest risk to hockey: head injuries.
“I feel outrage that there’s a doable fix to preventing head injuries in hockey, and yet it isn’t happening. But I also feel hope that it’s an absolutely answerable problem,” said Dryden on a book tour through Edmonton in November. “My son and daughter played hockey, and my two grandsons play today. I’m optimistic that change can happen quickly if Gary Bettman (NHL Commissioner) just makes the decision to disallow hits to the head and completing of checks/interference.”
Dryden outlines how hockey has changed dramatically since he played in the ’70s, calling it a better played game than ever before, with “remarkable skills that have caught up with speed, but with the by-product of more forceful, frequent collisions with bigger players. “We’ve clamped down on slashing, which is more inconsequential, so why not just change the rule around head hits too? Just like shooting the puck over the glass – it’d be an automatic penalty – just go to the box. After the debate and pushback, players and coaches adapt and get on with it.”
Dryden says that too often, a player is out with concussion and the game goes on – an out of sight, out of mind type of scenario that plays over and again. “But what’s the life effect of the concussion? It may recur, there may be side effects, symptoms may worsen – depression, anxiety and confusion may kick in – but it seems less urgent of a problem, because it’s out of the public’s mind. We look to science, and that’s important, but the game is played tomorrow, so we need to address the issue today,” he says.
Where’s the science?
Martin Mrazik, associate professor in the department of educational psychology at the U of A, disagrees with Dryden’s conclusion that there’s a definitive cause and effect relationship between head trauma and CTE. Involved with medical assessments and studying injury outcomes on concussions for the CFL, NHL and NFL, Mrazik says evidence doesn’t support Dryden’s claim.“We’ve made significant changes to sport: there’s non-contact tiers in hockey, rule 48 in the NFL which disallows targeted hits to the head, and measures to manage concussions. We educate players and coaches on signs of concussion, and time taken away from the sport is longer after a concussion now too,” Mrazik says. “There used to be the idea of playing through the pain and getting back to the game as quickly as possible, but we don’t do that anymore. There is independent evaluation and we’re very conservative about fully rehabilitating the player.”
“Hockey has come a long way in recent years, and I’d never want to discourage kids from playing the sport or any contact sport where there’s a risk of head injury: football, ringette, soccer, rugby,” he says. “It’s great to have the discussion, but what is more dangerous? Not playing sport? And dealing with issues like obesity? It’s never been a safer time to play.”
Safety in sport at local level
Gill Hermanns, president of SAMHA (St. Albert Minor Hockey Association) and dad of a one-time hockey-playing son, said he does not see a lot of hits to the head at the younger levels of the sport. He says only a few players emulate the type of play they watch at NHL and junior league levels – the checking and skating a defenceman into the boards.“Up to now, there’s been a lot of different opinions on concussion protocols. You ask 10 people, you get 10 opinions on what to do,” Hermanns says. “So I’m glad we now have the guidance of the Hockey Canada Concussion Policy. It’s the approach we need; clarity about what is expected from players, coaches and parents around identifying and dealing with possible concussion.”
“There is more awareness about possible long-lasting effect of concussions, especially since the publicity around the damage discovered in the donated NFL players’ brains. Up to now, concussion has sometimes gone unreported because players or parents don’t want to be out of the game for a length of time. But the new policy will insure concussion follow-up and protocol; a third-party will have to sign off on a player’s fitness to return to the ice – not the player, not the coach, not the parent.”
One of the largest associations in the province, SAMHA has 1,930 players from 4 to 20 years old on 112 teams in non-hitting younger-aged tiers, plus programs for kids (age 7-12) who’ve never played. There’s also midget, pee wee and bantam in non-hitting and hitting tiers, and for those moving into hitting-allowed tiers, SAMHA offers regular and free hitting clinics attended by the majority of players.
“Head hits are just one thing. Concussion can happen with an aggressive body hit, or when the head hits the ice on a fall. The clinics teach kids how to properly hit and how to take a hit too,” he says. “But our non-hitting environment is growing. We used to have hitting in all tiers, but now there’s a recreational league with no hitting, and tiers 1, 2 and 3 with both hitting and non-hitting teams. We’re hosting a Family Day tournament for midget non-hitting teams too, with some 10 teams signed up. In fact, I think sometimes, it makes for a better game of hockey.”
Dryden says that by telling one player’s story – detailing the person and the science – NHL decision-makers can be put into a corner. “I offer a pathway out. Change is in Bettman’s hands, but it may be the push from the families of players – mothers, wives – that demand their voices be heard on the subject,” says Dryden, pointing to non-advocacy groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving that affected societal change around drinking and driving. “There may be a Mothers Against Head Hits group that will say ‘we have a stake in this; a concern for our loved one.’ Maybe parents will question whether contacts sports are right for their children. Saying ‘that’s just the way it is: it’s how the game is played’ is just not a good enough answer anymore.”
