http://www.lfpress.com/sports/hockey/20 ... 25271.html


That is 3 now in this offseason

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just call me Brad

Twitter @BUrbanowicz13

What the fuck? Why are all the enforcers in the NHL passing away? Sad, condolences to his family.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

I know I can't assume but his death makes me think of drugs.

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just call me Brad

Twitter @BUrbanowicz13

I dunno...35, successful NHL player, wife and 2 kids, everyone says he was an awesome guy with a good sense of humor.
A drug problem big enough to kill you is big enough to screw up all of those things along the way.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Apparently it wasn't drugs and the Toronto sun say he hung himself

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/08/31/ex ... found-dead

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just call me Brad

Twitter @BUrbanowicz13

man...2 suicides in the same summer...WTF

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Memory Eternal!

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PSA: I am an overly sarcastic person. If you take me at my word, then i will most likely anger and offend you.

Even if drugs are found in his system I would argue that they are part of the symptom, not the cause. Often people with severe depression self-medicate to alleviate the pain of the "black dog," as Winston Churchill referred to the demons of his depression.

Unfortunately, the drugs often make the depression worse.

P.S. I know everyone hates the language police, but people are hanged, meat is hung.

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th' only knower of th' cosmic mysteries alive at this time

Way too many untimely deaths in the NHL this year. So sad.

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

Why did he kill himself? He had money, a family, he still played hockey... It's weird.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

Those things have nothing to do with the chemical makeup of a person. Lots of people with depression have lives that to others look idyllic. It isn't a rational thing.

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th' only knower of th' cosmic mysteries alive at this time

Depression/mental illnesses usually don't care about those things.

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

More and more evidence in my book that fighting is wreaking havoc on too many lives to justify the cult status it has in this sport. Let's not forget Sean Avery pushing a cop either. It seems clear to me that many of the "enforcers" of the league are setting themselves up for a lifetime of anger problems at best, with frequent head trauma providing the spectre of much, much worse possibilities in the areas of depression, substance-abuse, and dementia. We're already seeing a lot this summer. I think it'll just keep happening until, especially if no one addresses the connection between teaching kids in juniors that they can earn a job by being a goon, and that fighting makes you a good teammate, and the effects we're seeing.

fighting doesn't lead to suicide

At the very least you would agree that there seems to be a connection between frequent head trauma and depression right? Pretty safe to say that depression CAN lead to suicide. Not that it HAS TO obviously, but there's a connection. From there all we have to do is establish whether or not there can be a connection between fighting and brain trauma, and I'd say I'm on sound logical ground.

i think it's a loose association that is unfair. i have neither heard of many MMA stars committing suicide nor many of the hockey players from previous generations who fought all the time.

i also think that it's more of a product of the new social atmospheres. grown men didn't commit suicide before, they dealt with their problems, because they accepted the responsibility they took on in life (wife, kids, etc). in the last 20 years people begin to "understand" suicide. sure, there's chemical imbalances...other people have dealt with them before, too.

My go-to example here is Terry Sawchuck. Took thousands of pucks to the head, got concussed, turned into a hard drinker, became depressed and died unhappy and early. That's a total guess on my part of course.

As far as MMA fighters, I don't know, but I don't think there are too many retired MMA fighters old enough to draw good data from yet. But boxers have certainly given us plenty of evidence of the connection between brain trauma caused by fighting (being "punch drunk") and depression.

i always heard sawchuck was very unhappy... but he died in a BBQ accident. never did hear EXACTLY what happened. always been curious.

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You have to be kidding, right? I hate to put a crack in your rose colored glasses, but your fantasy about the good old days when men were men and quietly sucked it up is just that...a fantasy

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th' only knower of th' cosmic mysteries alive at this time

that's not got anything to do with it.