Crosby's Concussion

The NHL points leaded, Sidney Crosby, has been missing from hockey for the past 5 days. That equals 2 games on his team's, Pittsburgh Penguins, schedule. Crosby has been out with a concussion that he sustained on New Year's Day after Washington Capitals forward, David Steckel, blindsided him. He originally only felt neck soreness though and wound up playing four days later against Tampa Bay even though he felt worse before the game. During the Tampa Bay game, he took another shot to head and hasn't practiced or played since. Now Crosby is speaking out against blindside hits. But was it the hit that has kept him out..or was it poor decision making by the Penguins medical staff?

After seeing all the concussions in the NFL, the Penguins staff should have pulled Crosby immediately after the Steckel hit. Why? Crosby complained of neck soreness. Now he claims that neck soreness is a usual soreness in the NHL because you get hit so many times, and he may be right. But after he took a shot to the head and then complained of neck soreness, it then should have been a completely different ballgame. So right off the bat, the Penguins handled the situation wrong. Crosby then played another game after the hit, even though he admitted he  felt worse. Now the player plays until he physically can't, and even then he tries to play sometimes; this is a given. It's the staff's job to step in and say, "No, you can't play tonight." But they did not do this and Crosby suffered another shot to the head in the game after the Steckel hit. The second mistake the Penguins staff with this situation.

One thing Crosby admits to understanding is that you get hit a lot in the NHL. It's something you expect when you enter the League, especially when you are an outstanding player. Now the Steckel hit was most definitely uncalled for, but I'm sure it wasn't purposely done to injure Crosby. Steckel probably just got caught up in the moment and the adrenaline rush you get when you play hockey, not to mention playing in the outdoor, Winter Classic game in front of 60,000 thousand at Heinz Field. Crosby shouldn't have spoke out at all against the hit though because he may be back to playing already if he and and the Penguin's staff handled the situation better. Crosby and the staff hopefully learned their lesson: take shots to the head more seriously, even if the initial result is just neck soreness.

Reference:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=6002525