Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Geoffrion Out With Concussion

Well, I've been sick and didn't plan on blogging today but this news couldn't wait until tomorrow. It has been announced that Blake Geoffrion will not travel with the team this weekend when the Badgers head up Michigan Tech.

According to the Baggot article, “He couldn’t exercise without symptoms,” UW coach Mike Eaves said Wednesday after Geoffrion sat out his third straight practice."

I started to make a blog post earlier in the day to talk about the subject but it never got finished. Basically what I was going to say is that even if the training staff and Geoffrion felt fine this week that I felt the coaching staff should leave him at home this weekend regardless. I just feel that head injuries are such a serious issue that you should have to sit a week if you get a concussion, especially if it's your second this season.

Nevertheless, he won't be making the trip. I have HUGE concerns right now over this issue. I know Blake said that he was fine after the game but for him to be feeling affects 4-5 days later is not a good sign. Concussions are a very, very serious issue that people simply aren't paying enough attention too.

Geoffrion was injured on an illegal check by St. Cloud State forward Aaron Marvin. As Geoffrion picked up a pass in his skates, Marvin moved in for the hit and threw his shoulder into Geoffrion's head. In my opinion it was a very unnecessary play. He could have easily completed the hit without going at the head. This is not the first time this season that Marvin has injured an elite WCHA player with an illegal check. Chay Genoway, North Dakota's captain still hasn't returned from an extremely dirty hit by Marvin and that was only 9 games into the season. He is experiencing severe post concussion syndrome symptoms.

Here were the lines in practice today according to Baggot:

Jordy Murray-Andy Bohmbach-Craig Smith
Ben Street-Derek Stepan-Michael Davies
John Mitchell-Aaron Bendickson-Patrick Johnson
Podge Turnbull-Sean Dolan-Ben Grotting

Looks like Bohmbach is getting a huge opportunity this weekend. Same with Podge Turnbull getting back in the lineup. Both players deserve an opportunity like this and I know they can handle the duties.

Here is the hit in question.




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