Columnist: Seabrook Should Have Been Taken Out Right Away
VANCOUVER (CBS) -- A Vancouver columnist is taking the NHL to task after the Blackhawks' Brent Seabrook took a hit to the head Sunday night.
Seabrook was injured Sunday night during Game 3 in the Blackhawks' Western Conference Quarterfinals series against the Vancouver Canucks. He took a hit to the head from Raffi Torres, in what many, including Seabrook, thought should have warranted a suspension.
However, no such suspension was handed down for Torres.
And two days later, Vancouver Sun columnist Cam Cole took the NHL to task, claiming Seabrook should have been taken out right after suffering the head injury. Seabrook was back on the ice within 26 seconds, and for another shift afterward, before being sent to a 15-minute examination in a "quiet room" during the period break, Cole reported.
Seabrook was cleared for play during most of the third period, yet had to sit out Game 4, Cole reported. But Cole said Seabrook suffered a concussion, and the NHL took the wrong action.
"It's not supposed to happen this way," Cole wrote. "The protocol is there to protect the brains of players from further scrambling after a suspected concussion, but in this case, it failed to detect the problem. Like the Sidney Crosby concussion, symptoms either didn't appear, or were not divulged by the victim, until long after the fact."
