Prospect Jared McCann suffers concussion during summer scrimmage
Summer is supposed to be a relaxed season for hockey players who look to stay healthy as they prepare for the upcoming season. But Canucks prospect Jared McCann had a different experience after suffering a concussion from a hit to the head in a scrimmage at a Canadian Summer Showcase Monday.
The 19-year-old McCann was skating through center ice when he turned his head back to avoid a blow from Russian defenseman Nikita Zhuldikov. The hit left McCann woozy and cost Zhuldikov a 10-minute misconduct for contact to the head. McCann will have to sit out the rest of the Summer Showcase, an event which Team Canada uses to help whittle down its World Junior Championships roster.
The debate over whether a hit to the head is appropriate in a summer game raged, as some -- like Team Canada coach Dave Lowry -- said McCann has to be more aware of where other players are on the ice and shouldn't turn their heads back to avoid hits like Zhuldikov's. Others, like Vancouver Province writer Ben Kuzma, wondered why the physicality was necessary in a scrimmage.
"But do you have to be playing in intense, high-tempo games against bitter rivals in August?" Kuzma questioned in a recent story on the hit. "There’s obvious rust and the will to impress, and hindsight will suggest that camp scrimmages are enough to ramp up the tempo. Yet, in the battle for Team Canada roster spots, there’s nothing concrete to suggest that injuries wouldn’t occur in a scrimmage scenario with players wired to succeed."
For now, McCann will have to watch from the sidelines as he rests up for another season of junior hockey. It remains to be seen just how costly this hit will be to his chances of making Team Canada in December.
(h/t Vancouver Province)
