Hockey brawl sparks concerns about concussions

A brawl at a recent junior hockey game has one researcher noting the dangers of head injuries.

• VIDEO: What goes into the making of an all-out hockey brawl?

The line brawl involved players from the Melville Millionaires and Flin Flon Bombers and was noted, in a tweet from the president of the Flin Flon Minor Hockey Association, as "a great night of old school hockey".

However Stephen Eger, president of Hockey Regina, said Monday the old ways should be left as that.

"That's what it is, old style hockey. And I don't think it's got a place in the game anymore," Eger said. "We need to be making a little bit more responsible decisions."

At the kinesiology lab at the University of Regina, researchers are closely examining concussions and sport.

"A concussion ... is a brain moving within the skull," Patrick Neary, a professor in the faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies at the U of R explains. "And when the brain moves within the skull, it's going to damage the tissue because the brain is a very, very soft tissue."

Neary's research has caught the attention of two WHL clubs. The Swift Current Broncos and Saskatoon Blades are working with him through the hockey season.

"Their brains are still developing," Neary said, referring to players who are 15 and 16 years old. "And they're continuing to develop the connection between the nerves, the synapses. And that's what creates our cognitive abilities."