http://www.insidehalton.com/sports/article/1264030--cautionary-tale
Cautionary tale
Price recounts how back-to-back concussions forced him out of hockey
Cautionary tale. Matt Price
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Pittsburgh Penguins stakeholders are no doubt still rejoicing over the recent return of Sidney Crosby.
But what about the non-poster boy victims of hockey concussions — who form a rapidly-increasing fraternity these days?
Among them is Milton’s Matt Price, whose pro career came to an abrupt — and painful — end before it really got a chance to get started.
Mirroring the circumstances of so many of his pro hockey cohorts, Price’s cautionary tale began exactly a year ago this Sunday.
Starting a two-game series with Utah, the Las Vegas Wranglers’ rookie centre — fresh off another Frozen Four championship win with Boston College — was making a centering pass along the boards when he got drilled by a Grizzlies defenceman.
Recalled the 23-year-old Miltonian, “By the next game I was out of commission and I was off for the next six weeks.”
Not long enough, as it turned out.
“As with other concussions I’d had in the past, I didn’t have any serious residual effects. However, I didn’t feel quite right either and I guess I should have known I wasn’t ready (to return). But for whatever reason, I came back.”
To say that was an unfortunate decision would be a major understatement, though one that didn’t reveal itself right away.
Price would play eight more games with the Wranglers before fate struck another excruciating blow.
That came in early February, against fellow Miltonian Josh Brittain’s Elmira Jackals.
“I was wrapping the puck around the boards when I got leveled by a defenceman. I didn’t actually black out, but I was really foggy for a while,” said 23-year-old Price, who had four goals and five assists in 27 East Coast Hockey League games after captaining Boston College in his senior year. “It was almost like I was floating and I needed a few minutes to figure out where I was.”
Where was he? In trouble.
With two concussions inside of three months, Price spent much of 2011 in what he succinctly — and bluntly — refers to as a very “dark” period of his life.
Not only was hockey on indefinite hold, but the chronic headaches and neck pain forced him to forego a summer internship.
“With all the physical symptoms, just going for a 10-minute walk or taking a nap were often difficult. If I even sat up for too long, I’d get pains. And as it got into summer and I’d had no success (overcoming concussions’ effects) it became extremely frustrating. There were a lot of long, dark days.”
Fortunately those are more or less in Price’s rearview mirror now.
And as hard as it may be to believe from somebody whose budding hockey career is at the very least in indefinite limbo — and might well be finished — the former Milton IceHawks standout considers himself lucky these days.
“The way I feel now is like night and day compared to a just few months ago. I’m still seeing a therapist every two weeks to rehab my neck, but otherwise I’m OK and it’s great to be able to just get out of bed and go to the gym without constant pain.”
Trying not to look back on the past year with resentment, Price isn’t about to go playing the blame game.
Instead, he feels concussion victims must practise extreme caution and rely on their own internal warning bells as much as the advice of doctors or trainers.
In other words — when in doubt, sit out.
“You have to really understand and be aware of your own recovery, because really doctors are learning just as much from players as we are from them. The regulations the NHL has put in place are good, but the further down the hockey ladder you go there’s going to be less support and resources available. So you really have to be your own advocate and be cautious.”
