Pominville Fails Test, Not Allowed To Play

Added on Oct 30, 2010 by J Merrill in

NHL

Jason Pominville suffered a pretty heavy hit from Niklas Hjallmarson of the Chicago Blackhawks on October 11. Pominville was taken off the ice on a stretcher, but was walking around later that night. Many thought he would be alright, and would be back quickly. According to his coaches and his team, he seems to be 100%, and has even been practicing at full speed. However, The NHL makes players take concussion tests, and they must equal or better the score they reached when they take it at the beginning of the season.

Pominville took his test this past Wednesday, and was waiting for results. “The waiting around part is never fun, but the good thing about it is I was able to go out there and skate,” said Pominville, who worked the point during power-play drills. “It’s not as if I was waiting for the results to go out and skate. Then it would probably be a little worse. But I got a good skate in, and whatever happens, happens.”

Well Jason didn’t do that well on the tests, and failed both pieces. He is now raising the question that he may not ever be able to do that well on the test. Maybe he did so well that he couldn’t ever be able to repeat it, no matter how healthy he is. “If the first time you did you had a great day, it might be tough to get back to that level,” Jason said.

Coach Ruff reiterated the same idea, “We talked about that,” “That is a real possibility. Maybe it’s one of those tests you got 100 percent, and you’re an 80 percent student.”

I understand Pominville wants to get back on the ice, and I understand that his coach would really like to have his experienced player back on the ice. However, I am not falling for this idea that he couldn’t recreate his test score. Are they meaning to tell us that when you go in for the tests at the beginning of the season, they should tell players to do their worst?

We only understand like 10-20% of the human brain, and the one thing we do know, is that it is fragile. Especially when its right after a concussion. I applauded the NHL when they put in the restrictions they did for concussions, and they seemed to be at the forefront of taking actions against them. I find it frustrating to hear players and coaches making excuses. At the very least its counterproductive to the main purpose of the tests in the first place. I understand how important Hockey is to the coaches and players, but its not more important then living.