#larry zeidel

[theluckystarfish]

1. Sidney Crosby

2.Evgeni Malkin

3. Marc Andre Fleury

4.Alexander Ovechkin

5.Wayne Gretzky

6.Larry Zeidel

7.Maurice Richard

8.Börje Salming

9.Henrik Lundqvist

10. Joel Lundqvist

here is my top 10 fav players of all time in ice hockey :)

[st-louis]

do you ever think about larry zeidel and just feel so fucking sad about him

[javajas]

would you share some points from your research paper with us? please?

Yeah, of course anon! I’m coming at it from a journalistic point of research, so I’m not conducting trials or doing field work, but I’ve definitely put a lot of work into it and I think I found resources that we don’t commonly see. Also, this is an absolute novel, I’ve just gotten really really into this and it’s something I’m actually hoping to pursue further.

One of the best research studies I found, which wasn’t sports related, was actually a study from Sweden. The gist of it is that they were hoping to study a population who had been diagnosed with at least one major concussion before the age of twenty-five. The control group for the study was un-concussed siblings. The results of the study showed a correlation between concussion and emotional instability; chronic pain including migraines; a decrease in academic performance including lowered graduation rates; and a massive uptick in mental health issues.

The Virginia Tech study is absolutely phenomenal as well. They currently have data available for both the NHL and the NFL, providing an amazing comparison. I’m massively disappointed that for once, I have to concede that the NFL has outdone the NHL by just absolute fathoms. The VA tech study took the most common helmets on the market, and created a new rating system for them. There’s a very neat testing robot that provides artificial head impacts replicating the average season for a player. (The average hockey player incurs on average 227 blows to the head per season, and 6 concussions. This is an average that includes the NHL, the CWHL, the NWHL, and college and youth leagues.) So cool, helmets should help, right? Actually… not really. Of the thirty-eight helmets tested, on a one to five scale, only three achieved a rating of ‘good’. Since I last checked, one helmet’s actually been bumped up to four stars- hooray! The rest were either ‘adequate’ or just… not recommended. So here’s the kicker. The NFL, whose study was admittedly done much earlier and therefore they’ve had more time to implement change, has made changes. Their self-report rate for concussion is up, and they’re actually one of the most significant donors to brain injury research in the country. (There’s some further fuss on this, due to bias, but I can’t really comment on that.) The NHL did introduce some new things to their concussion policy this season, but the NFL is still doing it better.

The NHL… well. As recently as  2017 Bettman’s been on record denying a link to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. There are at least 6 deceased NHL players publicly and definitively diagnosed with CTE, and over a hundred more retired players and their families involved in a CTE lawsuit against the NHL. I can’t even begin to tell you how appalled and disappointed and horrified I am at the neglectful and irresponsible attitude Bettman’s taken on this. Players like Wade Belak, Rick Rypien, and Derek Boogaard are probably also included in this- their suicides are commonly (meaning it’s not been scientifically established, but it’s generally accepted) attributed to depression linked to concussions. As of right now, Boogaard is the only one of the three publicly confirmed to have CTE. Larry Zeidel is also a really interesting read as far as CTE goes.

If you’re looking for a closer-to-home take on it, I did also conduct a very small survey and interviews, both with athletes who attend my college and some of the lovely folks who reached out to me through social media, including here on Tumblr. I had multiple respondents who’d had 7 to 10 concussions, all before the age of twenty five. Nearly half of respondents said either they had long term symptoms from their concussion, or they felt that it was too early to rule out long term effects. The lingering symptoms included memory loss, slurred speech, mood swings, sensory issues, headaches… All of these symptoms were experienced by at least two of the people who answered. And these aren’t professional athletes- no one had played above NCAA.

Concussions are really horrible. I love hockey, and I support youth sports, but right now the shake it off culture is beyond frightening. Please, please do your research and encourage others to do the same.

(Final disclaimer that I’m not a medical professional, I’m not a scientist, this is just something I’m really passionate about and have spent quite a bit of time looking into.)

[st-louis]

1) how did you originally get into hockey? 2) what is your favorite color? dumb question but i’m curious 3) do you have a favorite jewish hockey player? doesn’t necessarily have to be a player who’s currently active or anything.

i grew up with it! my mom had flyers season tickets during their cup years 😩 we just always had it on at home and my little brother played ice hockey for most of his childhood until everyone had their growth spurts and they started checking and he was still tiny but couldn’t stop trash talking and was getting destroyed on the regular (he was a defenseman, rip). so it’s just always been a big thing in my life.

my favorite colors (tbh cannot pick one) are black, gray, and very dark green. basically norweigian forest at night palette

i will always have a soft spot for larry zeidel because i will always have a soft spot for jewish tough guys and i feel horrible the way his life ended. ellen weinberg-hughes bc have you seen her. current players i am fond of: zach hyman, jason zucker before he got traded to the pens, and quinn hughes