Colorado Avalanche: Facing Concussions in Modern Hockey

Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Avalanche, like every other team in the NHL, is facing issues with concussions. The year is 2015. There are no more excuses for ignorance.

Science and medicine have caught up to our favorite pastimes. What they’ve found is unsettling.The facts about what happens to the human brain when it smashes against the front of the skull repeatedly are all out there for the world to examine. And it’s worse than we thought.

In fact, it’s really, really bad, and we need to rush now to figure out how we can stop millions more brains from being permanently dismantled by the highest pedigree in popular sports. Are we really ready to accept the facts? Where do we even begin to address concussions and brain disease in the realm of modern athletics, particularly hockey?

Mile High Sticking editor Nadia Archuleta and I are attempting to take on a behemoth of an issue in this post — how concussions are changing the present and future landscape of sports. We’re unearthing the past. It’s a tough process because the subject matter is so vast.

The more you scratch at the world of concussions in hockey and the medicine being closely examined behind it, the more you find out that the information is seriously under-broadcasted and frightening.

I’m not an alarmist. So, I have no intention of stirring up any air raid sirens on the issue, quite frankly, because I’m still forming an opinion on this subject matter myself. The information presents a complex atmosphere.

The following slides in Mile High Sticking’s investigation into the world of brain trauma in hockey and modern sports in general don’t really have a definitive beginning, middle and end. As much as I would like to write an article examining a profound issue that I can magically tie into a solution with a neat bow at the end – that’s not how this is going to work.

Because concussions aren’t simple. The science is complex and evolving, but what’s more complicated is how we’re going to adapt now that the information is readily accessible and there’s no excuse for ignorance anymore.

Nadia Archuleta, resident editor and avid historian of the Colorado Avalanche will join the discussion, putting the microscope about brain trauma in sports directly over our favorite team. It’s a painful road to walk, but things need to change soon.

So, before we even begin, we need to look at the first piece of news that fans have gotten wind of in the last few months. I warn you – it’s unsettling. The ramifications of all this new information cuts deep. It gets into the roots of what makes the sports we like enjoyable. There’s also an incredible amount of information.

As fans, we kind of owe it to the players we adore to become aware of the dangers of the professions they take on – so we can process their excellence in context. Modern sports are hard and violent, and the skill that our favorite players exhibit for us – what is needed to perform as they do — is requisite knowledge toward appreciating their greatness.

Here are twenty-something things you should know about concussions in modern sports. To start, we need to examine a different league — the National Football League.

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