Bergeron is working his way back after suffering a concussion and broken nose when he was slammed facefirst into the boards by the Flyers' Randy Jones Oct. 27. The 22-year-old center has been participating in three-on-three noncontact drills but is not expected to return during the regular season.
It's been a long, difficult road for Bergeron. Concussions are brain injuries caused when the soft tissue of the brain slams into the skull. This can cause memory loss, fatigue, and depression, perhaps even permanently.
"It's hard to explain what it's like for someone who never had one," says Bergeron, sitting in the stands after the workout, staring at his feet. "At first, the light is bothering you. The noise is bothering you. Walking for a short distance makes you dizzy. You have headaches. You feel nauseous. Your memory is gone. There's a lot of stuff that stinks. Stuff we take for granted every day. It's tough. You try to do something and you feel good. And then the next day you try to do the same thing and you feel terrible, and you have to go to bed."
Some coaches still call concussions "dingers" and label players "wimps" if they don't return quickly to the ice.
It's a strange dichotomy. Bobby Orr went through a slew of knee operations and was revered for his courage. Eric Lindros, who played for four NHL teams, most notably the Philadelphia Flyers, had eight concussions and had his toughness questioned by Flyers general manager Bobby Clarke. Lindros had his captaincy stripped from his empty uniform - on television, no less - when he disagreed with the team's medical staff about returning from a concussion in 2000.
"It's funny, you break your leg, you know how long it takes for a bone to heal," says Lindros, currently the NHL Players' Association ombudsman. "You'll know how long it takes to come back. But what we don't know is what goes on in the head because it hasn't come to a science. Even now it's still a very gray area."
