Sabres forward Jason Pominville was believed to be returning to action soon following his recovery from a concussion suffered after a hit from behind by Chicago’s Niklas Hjalmarsson, but it appears that won’t be happening anytime soon. John Vogl of Sabres Edge tells us that Pominville has failed his final neuro-psych tests to see if he’s recovered from the concussion and his return to action will now be delayed from it. Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff is disappointed by the setback.
Some fans felt that Pominville’s hit wasn’t as bad as it seemed but it’s clear that that’s not the case and that, still, there’s more to concussions that we just don’t know enough about. The Sabres could use Pominville’s presence on the ice, however, as the team is struggling. The good news though is that he’s close and just passing the final test will help him get back to action. That said, Pominville says the test itself can be tricky even if you haven’t had a head injury.
Not to make light of things, but I’m sure that there’s more than a few of us who couldn’t pass these tests after a long night of slamming down beers with our friends. Of course, all we’ve got to do is roll out of bed and do whatever it is we do the next day. Meanwhile, Pominville is a professional hockey player who had his brain smacked around in his head. This is one of the many reasons why I’m not a professional athlete.
“The disappointment is everybody really thought after the days of practice and the work he put in that he was going to be playing, and I was one of them, too,” coach Lindy Ruff said in Philips Arena. “There’s been no ill effects from practicing. He’s gone full go. He’s gone through battle drills. He had no headaches, stuff like that. There have been no side effects to exercise. Normally, what sets a guy back is he will have headaches or he won’t feel right, or he may feel dizzy or lightheaded, but Jason has had none of that, so it’s a little bit of a different area for us.”
Some fans felt that Pominville’s hit wasn’t as bad as it seemed but it’s clear that that’s not the case and that, still, there’s more to concussions that we just don’t know enough about. The Sabres could use Pominville’s presence on the ice, however, as the team is struggling. The good news though is that he’s close and just passing the final test will help him get back to action. That said, Pominville says the test itself can be tricky even if you haven’t had a head injury.
“It’s one of those that, even without having this concussion, it’s a pretty tough test,” Pominville said. “You’ve got to remember different shapes, different words. It’s all memory stuff. They show you a sheet for maybe 10 seconds, and you’ve got to remember as many things as you can that are on the sheet and draw it exactly the same way.
“It’s stuff that’s pretty interesting, but at the same time if you have a bad day you might not pass it. If the first time you did you had a great day, it might be tough to get back to that level.”
Not to make light of things, but I’m sure that there’s more than a few of us who couldn’t pass these tests after a long night of slamming down beers with our friends. Of course, all we’ve got to do is roll out of bed and do whatever it is we do the next day. Meanwhile, Pominville is a professional hockey player who had his brain smacked around in his head. This is one of the many reasons why I’m not a professional athlete.
