The lawsuit doesn't read nearly as well as the story, which laid bare the life of an NHL enforcer for all to see. The way John Branch wrote about Derek Boogaard in the New York Times should have been enough to cause even the most hardcore hockey fan to reconsider the peculiar role that goons play in the sport.
Joanne Boogaard watched her son Derek duke it out on the ice with other NHL tough guys for six seasons as one of the most feared enforcers in the game, a 6-foot-7 brawler who was not there to skate or score, but to defend his teammates when it was called for.
Already, the NFL is swamped by litigation in federal court from 4,336 former players, at last count, over head injuries sustained during their careers. That includes 33 Pro Football Hall of Famers. It's a problem no public relations assault or rules changes or donation spree has been able to shake. The NHL's turn is here.
The 2012 Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists, with comments from judges:
Lew Carpenter never had any concussions _ or at least none that his family knew about back in the 1950s and '60s, when he played for the Lions, Browns and Packers and there wasn't as much concern over them as there is now.
Lew Carpenter never had any concussions _ or at least none that his family knew about back in the 1950s and '60s, when he played for the Lions, Browns and Packers and there wasn't as much concern over them as there is now.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says there is not enough data yet to draw conclusions about the link between concussions and a degenerative brain ailment that has been found in four dead hockey players.
Rangers enforcer Derek Boogaard suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain ailment related to Alzheimer's disease that is caused by repeated blows to the head, the New York Times reported.
A Minnesota judge threw out a felony charge against the brother of hockey enforcer Derek Boogaard on Thursday for supplying a painkiller that contributed to the player's overdose death earlier this year.
