He was supposed to popularize hockey in California, and he succeeded. On a spring evening in 2003, Paul Kariya even became the symbol of the ultimate warrior.
Closely controlled by one Scott Stevens, the prolific forward lay motionless on the ice. For 48 seconds, an eternity, the ice hockey fans held their breath. Had the worst just happened?
But Kariya got up. He retired to the locker room and then came back in that sixth game of the Stanley Cup Finals to… score.
A powerful slap shot that the attacker has no memory of. Because, as he revealed 14 years later in the TSN documentary titled “Surface,” Kariya remembers neither the check nor the web that shaped his imagination, nor the days that followed.
The scene is unimaginable in today’s ice hockey. The forward had just suffered one of six concussions that would affect his career so badly that it ended prematurely at the age of 35.
One in six head injuries that would also impair his brain function by 60%.
Ice hockey is over
Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that the warrior no longer has the heart for hockey. The name of the TSN documentation is not trivial. Kariya’s passion now is surfing.
He has no memory of his prolific career (989 points in 989 games) in his glorious California homeland. He missed taking off his longtime pal Teemu Selanne’s jersey.
His last major public hockey appearance is likely to be tonight in October 2018, when his number 9 was also hoisted by the Ducks, a year after he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Paul Kariya and his wife Valerie Dawson as the Ducks removed their jersey in October 2018. Photo AFP
Matthew Tkachuk is not Paul Kariya (read the other text). Here). And in 2023, concussions will be treated far more seriously by the NHL than they were 20 years ago. After his tough encounter with Keegan Kolesar, Tkachuk passed the protocol checks instituted by the circuit.
It’s hard to believe that Kariya could have returned after Stevens’ check. Investigations players perform in the darkroom address short-term memory issues.
And even 14 years later, the striker can’t remember anything about the game that changed his life.
The “bloodthirsty” aspect of man
But what remains two decades later is the tendency for fans to adore those athletes who play despite injuries, no matter how serious.
“We’re not going to change that habit,” says Louis De Beaumont, a clinical neuropsychologist who is also a researcher at the Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur-de-Montréal.
“The ‘bloodthirsty’ aspect of man, a bit like in the gladiator days, is ingrained in us,” he points out. It becomes so important that [leur équipe] wins the Stanley Cup, it becomes acceptable when it’s essentially about entertainment [qu’ils continuent à jouer].”
“We have a whole problem”
The mentality of athletes is also difficult to change, adds the doctor.
“The player has dreamed of winning a Stanley Cup his whole life, there are 31 other teams in the league, he wonders if he will have a chance of winning another one.” It’s about justifying the risks , which we take for our health, both towards the public, the athlete himself and the coach.
“All of these are paradoxes that will forever inhabit man. Therefore, it is difficult to tell an athlete to withdraw from the game.
Even at the risk of risking the rest of his life. Therefore, it is important to follow the concussion protocol and, above all, to respect it.
“If these rules are not followed, we have a whole problem,” he regrets, referring to the Matthew Tkachuk case.