The brain of Steve Montador, a former NHL player who died in February at age 35, was found to have widespread chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a disease associated with repeated hits to the head.
His family plans to sue the NHL for wrongful death, according to lawyers representing Montador’s estate.
Montador became the fifth former NHL player known to have had CTE, which can only be diagnosed posthumously. Among its symptoms are memory loss, depression and impulse control problems. Some show signs of progressive dementia.
Photo: AP
Several dozen former National Football League players have received diagnoses of CTE, which has long been associated with boxing. It has also been found in recent years in other athletes, including rugby union and soccer players.
Other former NHL players who were diagnosed with CTE include Reg Fleming, Rick Martin, Bob Probert and Derek Boogaard. Boogaard’s family has a pending wrongful-death lawsuit against the NHL through Corboy & Demetrio, the Chicago law firm that is also representing the Montador family. A group of about 70 former NHL players have also sued the league, accusing the NHL of concealing the risks of concussions.
Montador, who played in the NHL for 10 years, and was known for rough play and his willingness to fight — he had 66 fights in his career — retired shortly after sustaining a serious concussion in 2012 while with the Chicago Blackhawks.
He was found dead in his home in Ontario in February. His cause of death has not been made public.
“The finding of widespread CTE in Steven’s brain helps us all better understand that his brain was ravaged by disease and he was unable to control it,” Montador’s father, Paul, said in a statement.
“He always knew that there might be black eyes, broken bones and soft-tissue injuries, but he never anticipated that playing the game he loved would result in such devastating impairment of his brain function,” he added.
Montador’s brain was examined at Krembil Neuroscience Centre at Toronto Western Hospital. Doctors described the “widespread presence” of CTE, which is caused by repetitive blows to the head — including subconcussive hits, those that might not register as injuries.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
Shuttler Lin Chun-yi yesterday kept Taiwan on the board as they faced their first major challenge of the group stage after marching into the last eight at the Sudirman Cup Finals in Xiamen, China. Taiwan were losing 3-1 to South Korea as of press time last night, with only the men’s doubles match remaining. Taiwan and four-time champions South Korea have already progressed to the quarter-finals, after Taiwan on Monday blanked the Czech Republic 5-0 without giving up a single game. Before last night’s tie, Taiwan were undefeated in Group B, with a 9-1 match record, ahead of South Korea, who, although also
RSS