Concussion ended Cuthbert’s season

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This article was published 25/05/2011 (5560 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Even the dressing room, the comfort zone for many hockey players, became a distraction in Brayden Cuthbert’s world.

As he tried to recover from a concussion that rocked his rookie season in the Western Hockey League, the Brandon native couldn’t find peace in the Moose Jaw Warriors’ locker-room.

"The dressing room isn’t a quiet place, because the guys are all together, having a good time, talking about their day, what they did last night, and you’re sitting in there, just sort of listening," Cuthbert said. "You don’t want to toss in your information, either, because every word almost is echoing in the inside of your head. So I’d just go in the trainer’s room after a little bit and relax in there, because the noise started getting to me after a few days. I didn’t want to keep on prolonging my headaches."

Cuthbert’s season turned into one big headache. Limited to 39 games, his schedule was essentially cut in half. After a promising start for the 16-year-old centre, his first year in the WHL came to a crushing end in January, almost three months before the Warriors played their historic final game in the Moose Jaw landmark known as the Crushed Can.

Just days after celebrating his 17th birthday and representing Team West in the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, Cuthbert suffered a concussion Jan. 22 when he was hit during a WHL game in Red Deer, Alta., against the Rebels.

"At the time, my trainer said it probably looked like it was only going to be a couple of weeks (on the sidelines)," he said. "But then the symptoms sort of just stayed around and I couldn’t shake it off. It just kept going on and on and on, and unfortunately I’m still out talking about concussions to this day."

Moreso than ever, concussions are the talk of the hockey world — from minor to pro levels, from causes to treatment, and from short-term effects to long-term impact.

And there are no easy answers. More than four months after being sidelined, Cuthbert has just recently been free of concussion symptoms. He skated with friends last week and completed a workout without incident. It’s a promising sign, but he still plans to see a neurologist in Winnipeg to further investigate the trauma that enveloped his life for months.

"Everybody is getting bigger and stronger nowadays," he said of today’s hockey players. "There are faster skaters and the equipment seems to be getting heavier and thicker, so if you get hit in the head, it seems concussions are just popping up a lot more than they used to. It’s not a good thing, at all. The league, or all leagues, are going to have to crack down on that, because if there’s too many head injuries, who knows what’s going to happen."

Cuthbert might be considered small at 5-foot-9 and about 170 pounds, but he doesn’t mind getting his nose dirty. His game takes him into traffic and the danger zones.

"I’m pretty fast," he said. "I’m not the lightest guy, either, so I can toss my frame around a little bit. If you want to get the puck, you’ve got to go to the dirty places on the ice, and that’s where I go."

Cuthbert wasn’t braced for the season-ending open-ice hit from Red Deer defenceman Mathew Dumba, the WHL rookie of the year.

"I didn’t really have the puck, so I wasn’t expecting to get hit and the guy stepped up on me," he said. "He had his shoulder down, which is good, but it was a little late and sent me flying.

"Initially, my head wasn’t my main concern. I had pretty big cuts on my face, but I was just like, ‘OK, I’ll play through that.’ And I had a slight headache, which you always get when you get your bell rung, so I just assumed it would go away. So I played a couple of shifts and just remember, the second shift, I went to get a pass and the puck was just three feet behind me and I was just out of it and zoned out. I realized something wasn’t right then and I had to skate off the ice and everything got a little blurry."

From waking up on the trainer’s table that night to the long bus ride home in and out of a coherent state, Cuthbert’s road to recovery took many turns. Although his concussion symptoms were already apparent, he suffered more headaches a few weeks later in Moose Jaw when he was involved in a minor car accident with teammate and roommate A.J. Johnson and bumped his head on the passenger’s window.

"That probably set me back a little bit, too," he said. "I hit my head and there was just no padding in my head at the time, after the concussion. I gave myself another pretty big headache."

After sitting out the requisite number of days free of concussion symptoms, Cuthbert resumed practising in February and eyed a comeback.

"It looked like I was going to be able to come back pretty soon, but then this one practice, something just wasn’t right in my head," he said. "It started getting blurry and I experienced the symptoms I got after the initial concussion."

That onslaught took the life out of a normally lively kid.

"Especially the first week or two after it happened, I would come home from just sitting and watching practice and I’d sleep through supper," Cuthbert said. "It feels like you’re constantly tired and constantly lacking sleep. And you’re really slowed down. The light really bothered me at first. Luckily, I had the dimming lights in my billet room, which was nice. But bright lights and noise really do give your head a ring.

"I never missed a day of school, but I essentially missed everything I learned. … I was in class, but by the end of class, I wouldn’t even realize what happened or what I just learned. The whole class went out the window, pretty much."

Now back home in Brandon for the summer, Cuthbert is finishing his Grade 11 studies at Crocus Plains. He’s making progress in school and in his attempt to play hockey again next season.

"I started skating again, just scrimmaging with guys last week, and I’m feeling pretty good right now," Cuthbert said this week. "I went almost an hour with no symptoms or anything, which is a really good sign."

Cuthbert’s story has intrigued the local hockey community and he’s agreed to speak at a concussion symposium in Brandon on June 8.

» jmacneil@brandonsun.com