Evidence of meeting #3 for Subcommittee on Sports-Related Concussions in Canada in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was hockey.
A video is available from Parliament.
Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, Lib.
Okay.
You said you interviewed Don Cherry. Did you ask him about fighting in hockey?
As an Individual
Definitely. He said there are a lot of really big hits that he remembers and he said that was one of the most enjoyable parts of the game, just seeing two guys go at it is one of the things that's really fun.
Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, Lib.
He told you that in an interview.
Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, Lib.
Interesting.
Ash, you said as well that you were accused of malingering, that you were faking it. Is that right? Again, as a physician, I find that disturbing.
Was there a culture in your league, when someone was injured, to walk it off, to be tough?
As an Individual
Yes, for sure. I think that is the culture in a lot of sports, and especially in hockey, that you try to play through it. I wanted to play through it. After I got hit, I went off to the bench and I started to feel a bit dizzy, but I wanted to try to go out for another shift so I went out for about 10 seconds and then I said, no, I can't do this, and went off to the bench and told my coach.
There is that mentality of, this game's fun, I want to play, I want to play through it.
Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, Lib.
Congratulations on the good judgment of saying, no, I can't do this, and getting off. I wish more players would. I wish they would.
That's my time. Thank you very much.
Mr. Peter Fonseca (Mississauga East—Cooksville, Lib.)
We're going to be moving over to the Conservatives now and Mr. Robert Kitchen from Saskatchewan.
Robert Kitchen Souris—Moose Mountain, CPC
Thank you, all, for being here. I appreciate your taking the time and telling us your stories. I understand from the story with the picture...and I hoped you would actually share with my colleagues Carter's picture with the Weyburn Red Wings jersey on instead, but I understand the rationale.
Carter, I have a question for you. Oftentimes in hockey we hear the term “run the goalie”. I've never had a chance to actually ask a goalie, and having known you for many years and watched you progress, I'd ask, what does that mean to you?
As an Individual
I guess it's just going after the goaltender unnecessarily. If the puck is gone, you don't need to make contact. I understand if the puck is in my equipment or there's a scramble in front of the net, some contact, but going out of your way to make that contact would be the best way for me to describe it.
As an Individual
Since word got out of my concussions, it was, a lot of the time, more than once a game.
Souris—Moose Mountain, CPC
Right. I know some of my coaches would say, we're telling our players to drive to the net, but oftentimes there's that fine line between running a goalie and going to the net.
From your experience—and I don't know whether you've ever even thought about it—is there something that could be said to maybe stop that, to defer that?
As an Individual
I don't think so, because at the end of the day, the players have to make their own choice. If they're going to plow through the goalie, they're going to do it.
Souris—Moose Mountain, CPC
Anne, I see your hand up. Do you have a comment?
As an Individual
I would really like to see the league start implementing the rule that there is zero contact with the goalie and see penalties, suspensions, whatever, handed down as soon as there is. Just this last weekend, I watched our Weyburn Red Wings goalie be bowled over three times and there wasn't a single call on that. They went under him. They were in the net behind him and there was no call. They had no reason to be in that crease whatsoever. To me, the crease should be sacred and they have to stay out.
Souris—Moose Mountain, CPC
Thank you. I appreciate that.
Kathy, I appreciate your comments. One of the things that we've heard a lot from people is on the issue of dealing with doctors. You mentioned the challenges, when people say do this, do that, don't do that. It's a big challenge.
Within professions there are recognized people who have sports-specific skills, whether it's a chiropractor, whether it's a medical doctor, whether it's a physical therapist, etc., who have those.
Would you think it would be of value that it be published a lot more readily to those sporting groups?
As an Individual
Interestingly, I worked with the—I think it was—the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation on an educational brochure to help parents and families go out and try to find resources, because a lot of people claim to have concussion services. They can help you get better and they list that.
My personal preference is research-based care, because there are a whole host of different things you can say you can provide, but I've just found in working with the staff at Holland Bloorview and their research team that the studies they do are real. They are working to improve every day on the information that gets out to parents and kids on how to get them back faster.
To summarize, research-based care has more value than just having a lot of clinics.
Souris—Moose Mountain, CPC
Thank you.
Ash, I wish you well in your studies. I'm a kinesiology graduate, so I'm wishing you well in that.
Can you describe some of your study for us, and the research you're doing in this area?
November 28th, 2018 / 6:15 p.m.
As an Individual
I'm looking at whether, if bodychecking is disallowed, there are any changes in offensive performance.
I'm also looking at the effects of concussion more from the sensory motor side of things, so movement and whatnot.
Those are the projects I've been working on.
Souris—Moose Mountain, CPC
Do you find that you can relate to some of those aspects from your own personal experiences?
As an Individual
Yes, for sure.
Another project I've done is called patient engagement research. It's trying to understand the experiences of adolescents who have gone through the concussion rehabilitation.
I've had a concussion, so I conduct qualitative research through interviews and focus groups, and try to gain the perspective of other individuals' experiences. It's really relevant to me, and that's why I'm so interested in it.
Souris—Moose Mountain, CPC
Matthew, very quickly, because I think I'm running out of time, you've done a video and did a lot of work on the protocol.
Can you explain some of that, very briefly, in terms of how you did that? What sorts of things did you talk about?