Another Bruins player struck down by concussion, as Horton’s out
Horton/By S. Bradley
Move over Marc Savard and make room on the sidelines for a teammate.
Another Bruins player has been felled by a cheap shot and another Bruins player has now has a foggier career future due to a head injury.
The Bruins this morning announced that Nathan Horton, nailed in the head by Aaron Rome of Vancouver in last night’s Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, is out for the rest of the series with a severe concussion.
Savard has famously been out since January after his second concussion in 10 months. At last update, Savard was still feeling post-concussion syndrome.
According to Horton’s bio on TSN.ca, he has not suffered a concussion previously.
In addition to Savard, David Krejci (twice) and Patrice Bergeron (three times), as well as rookie Steven Kampfer this season, have suffered concussions on the ice over the last several seasons.
There’s no telling how long the recovery will be or how the injury will affect Horton for the rest of his career.
Rumor has it the league will get serious about reducing the number of head injuries to the Bruins and all 30 teams when it runs out of players crazy enough to participate in the sport.
the ONLY reason Horton got hurt is his stupidity @ admireing his pass, Rome move slightly forward and to the right to hold his blue line and Allows Horton to skate into him. Watch a frame by frame .. initial impact is shoulder to chest.. blind side my ass, the only thing blind is u rabis Bruins “fans”. Mike Murphy, the league’s senior vice president of hockey operations, agreed the hit would have been legal if it hadn’t been late. But given its timing and Horton’s subsequent injury, league officials ruled Rome would miss the rest of the series. late by 13/100th of a second on their 1/2 second threshold… that being said Hortons a good Canadian Boy and i wish him a speedy recovery.
good luck Nate and I wish you a full recovery.
Thanks Hawk … I think you are correct.
I seem to be still working my way through last night. At this point, I can not view Horton lying on the ice, limbs rigid from the brain trauma, as ‘entertainment’ anymore.
I am disguised by a League that is ‘trying’ to take head hits out of the game. A high stick and there’s no question of intent. A brain injury, well they have to be more nuanced about the meaning in the mind of the player left standing. The guy lying concussed on the ice …? He’s too incapacitated to consider what’s going on in his head. And anyways ….’That’s entertainment’, isn’t it!?
As for the Players’ Association, I think brain trauma is a strike worthy issue. If it’s not, one would have to ask, ‘Why not!?’
And so, here I am, up on my high horse, sitting with my ‘won’t-watch-the-Canucks-win-the-Cup’, lance stuck in a windmill …. regretting the charge, but unwilling to give up the ‘brain-trauma-as-entertainment’ dragon …
Snerd
With respect to Snerd’s comments, don’t give up on professional hockey; it’s a great sport. Players have to learn that there are limits, and must abide by those limits. The league could have stopped this behavior with more severe penalties but chose not to do so. Regardless of what the league officials do, it’s up to the players to police themselves.
I am a Canuck fan. The Canucks are probably going to win ‘the Series’, unless the League wants to goonify their product even more. Nevertheless, I am not going to watch anymore.
The ‘Two Seasons’ rule book has been a perennial issue, if only that were the problem and there was just two ways the game was officiated …
Horton’s injury was stunningly unnecessary.
The quality of a human life is worth more than a game. I am uninterested in supporting a League that puts expansion-Sun-Belt, crap ‘business’ product over human life! This reminds me of the time Greg Moore was killed in a CART race and an in-the-pits interviewer’s fist question to a team owner was about tires … That ‘terminated’ my interest in that ’product’.
Snerd
RD, I’m just worried that if both teams come into the next game trying to play it straight, the refs may be on such high alert that marginal calls will be penalties. The beauty of the game 7 vs Tampa was that the teams played it clean and the refs let the marginal calls go for both sides.
Hey – every time I try to post as a civil ‘hockey fan’ one of our new friends from Couver starts tossing insults my way. Gimme a break.
As far as the Refs. I think they’ve been terrible. The first game they called phantom calls on both Krecji (no one hit Hamhuis, he threw out his back), and on a Couver player when Thomas flopped. There were at least two more terrible calls in that first game. The last game? The Refs lost control – and I think they let the Bs throw some weight mainly b/c they hadn’t been able to control Vancouver’s antics.
Its been a wierd series – Game 1 was awesome with an awesome finish (even Bs fans have to admit much to our shagrin), but the second game ended on a dud. A real let down to an otherwise good contest (this is where I was last assaulted by you friggin’ Nucks), and the third game was an absolute circus with a terrible hit on Horton that could very well end it for a great kid. The look on his face lying on the ice still scares me.
As far as Luongo – Nucks better hope he doesn’t let one in early next game. He’s got to be thinking – some of those were ridiculously soft. But its the Shirley Twins that I think will be most affected. I predicted at the start of this series that these kids wouldn’t fare well in this environment. They’ve only played well against SanJose – another soft team. The twins were no where to be found against tough teams like Chicago and Nashville.
Can’t wait for the next one. Hopefully we’ll just get some great competition from here on out with no more biting, diving, taunting, head-slapping, and the rest. Go Bs.
RD: This is childish. Both teams are acting like fools and are making a mockery of the sport on the national stage. The fans are worse!
Snerd: 100% … I am saying this as a hockey fan
RD: I’m amazed nobody has been trying to iron out the details on how Boston potted 8 goals despite being badly outshot or how Vancouver will adjust with only 4 regular defensemen…
Snerd: 110% … and I am saying this as a Canucks fan
nifty: “… It makes me sick and is what is entirely wrong with the game.”
Snerd: As a Canucks fan, I too was sickened to see the Horton hit and him carried off on a stretcher. Rome has been a second behind the play in this and the last game, and then still tried to be physical.
Bernard Gilbert has the best analysis on this thread so far. Two guys skating at one another with speed. One on a Sunday skate at center ice, the other with an opportunity to injure. As Claude said, this is what the League is supposed to want to take out of the game.
Ryan: “… if Burrows gets suspended for the bite then … this series doesn’t turn into a gong show. Now we’ve lost yet another superstar to a severe head injury … The NHL’s credibility hinges on this hearing, in my opinion.”
Snerd: Officiating has been flakier than a goalie meltdown, in the Playoffs. However, if refs call penalties, then they’re criticized for ‘interrupting the flow of the game’. If they don’t then we have last night – two separate seasons and a gong show. As a result, officiating is in part responsible for what happened last night.
There was a blogger on here a day back advocating Boston give Vancouver some ‘Quiet Room’ time. Really!? I thought there was UFC for these guys.
Isn’t it time the League started to focus on the Game, rather than their Sun Belt business plans … ?
Snerd
That all said, RD has a great point about our complaints with reffing. They have been good this series, our complaints should rest with the league. It looks like the bruins built a little summer home in Luongo’s head last night. I hope they can expand it to make it a ‘Hawks’ sized mansion.