"I am convinced he had some type of concussion beforehand," said Dr. Jesse Corry, a specialist in neurocritical care at the John Nasseff Neuroscience Specialty Clinic in St. Paul who studied the autopsy report. He died two days later. "[16] By mid-season, Masterton had scored 4 goals and 12 points in 38 games. But that has not happened fast enough for a group of more than 120 ex-NHL players, including Bernie Nicholls, Mike Peluso and Steve Payne, who are suing the league in a class-action suit for putting their neurological health at risk despite knowing the violent play involved. Masterton told his friend that he had been having migraines. After reviewing the document, Dr. Charles Tator, a Toronto neurosurgeon and concussion expert, believes Masterton suffered second impact syndrome, a rare occurrence where a second concussion happens on the heels of a first concussion that never healed, causing rapid and severe brain swelling. [12], Faced with little opportunity to make the Montreal roster,[3] Masterton left the professional game to complete his master's degree at the University of Denver. Stay on current site or go to US version. ", North Stars coach Wren Blair describes Masterton's qualities as a player. Seven hours later, when the Hennepin County medical examiner performed an autopsy, they discovered the true cause of Masterton's death. "We lived with the accident for many years but did not talk about it.". "[Masterton] probably had some earlier swelling going on, so if he got a second injury, it would be catastrophic.". On that fatal night at Met Center on Jan. 13, 1968, the Minnesota North Stars center, playing against the Oakland Seals, carried the puck across the blue line and cut to the right while Seals defensemen Larry Cahan and Ron Harris closed in. Its the most gruesome distinction in hockey: Only one player has ever died from injuries directly suffered in an NHL game. But even if they had, he might still have been in the lineup against Oakland. We know the second hit can be fatal. Three years later, only six Minnesota players wore them, the most of any of the NHL's teams. john@johnrosengren.net|612-926-8835. The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey, will be awarded June 22. Yet players such as Masterton learned to play hurt. On that fatal night at Met Center on Jan. 13, 1968, the Minnesota North Stars center, playing against the Oakland Seals, carried the puck across the blue line and cut to the right while Seals defensemen Larry Cahan and Ron Harris closed in. It goes on today, theres no question about it. It took the NHL more than a decade to catch up to Boudrias' logic. Among the new entries was the Minnesota North Stars. "We lived with the accident for many years but did not talk about it.". 4 pick Puljujarvi to Canes, Chasing history in Boston: The numbers behind the Bruins' wild 2022-23 season, McDavid, then who? Only a handful of NHL players wore them at the time, including Masterton's teammate, Boudrias. The team also retired his No. It got deathly quiet.". ", Masterton was an unfortunate victim of the ignorance of his time. While knowledge of concussions has increased dramatically since Masterton died, the warrior-like mindset of professional hockey players is everlasting, he said. He bore the bruises of that hit and others in subsequent games -- on his left arm, both thighs and, unwittingly, his brain. As dramatic music replaced a play-by-play call of the incident, the video moved backwards in slow motion until just before Laperrieres face absorbed the slapshot. [Masterton] probably had some earlier swelling going on, so if he got a second injury, it would be catastrophic.. Its kind of good to hear that because it takes away some of the What if? And in Masterton's case, it probably cost him his life. He didn't see the other defender, who caught him with a clean check that knocked him backward. With a blown knee and broken bones, Scott stepped away from his sport. You stopped elbowing guys in the head, Matt?". [15] He received treatment on the ice and in the dressing room before being rushed to Fairview-Southdale Hospital.[3]. The specter of Masterton's death hung over the NHL All-Star Game, which was played in Toronto the next day, Jan. 16, 1968. In his memory, the NHL created the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy which it has awarded since 1968 to a player who demonstrates perseverance and dedication to hockey. Twice last season, Laperriere took slapshots in the face. "He played that game standing up," Williamson said. He and others considered it a sign of weakness. "We watched his head bounce," Lindgren said. said Boudrias, now 72. He made the North Stars and scored the first goal in franchise history. [3] Masterton was promoted to the Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League (AHL) for the 196263 season, where he led the team with 82 points. He had been checked hard into the glass -- less yielding in those days -- two weeks earlier in a game against the Boston Bruins. But from that moment forward, the echoes of his fathers life stopped. Boudrias is convinced his insistence on wearing a helmet factored into Blair's decision. Bill Masterton, the only player to die from injuries suffered during an NHL game, might not have died in vain. "I wouldn't do it.". My mother, before she died, talked about it. He didnt just work on the ice. Ive always thought of this after, that when he complained (of headaches) at least he could have put on a helmet for a couple of days, said teammate Wayne Connolly. He remains the last fatality in any professional team sport involving a direct in-game injury in North America. He remains the last fatality in any professional team sport involving a direct in-game injury in North America. A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Masterton played two seasons of junior hockey with the St. Boniface Canadiens in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL). Boudrias helped the teams trainer onto the ice to tend to Masterton. Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. When Bill Masterton's limp body collapsed to the ice on Jan. 15, 1968, the Minnesota North Stars centre appeared to be the victim of an innocuous hit. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. He admits he lied to team doctors about his post-concussion issues in order to return for a shot at the Stanley Cup. The season started with promise: Masterton scored the first goal in North Stars history. [11] He finished as the runner up to Doug Robinson for the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award as the AHL's top rookie. Masterton had worn a helmet when he played college hockey in Denver because NCAA regulations required players to wear them, but he did not wear one as a professional. The real reason why the Golden Seals folded. They and many others claim the league could be doing more to protect its players from returning to action too soon. He cherished his son, Scott, 3, and daughter, Sally, 1. Coach Wren Blair believed that Masterton was playing through a pre-existing brain hemorrhage. They had total control.. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free), Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. When this happens, it can cause rapid and often fatal brain swelling. Deadline decisions: What will Avs, Kraken and others do? "I knew he was done.". Corry believes Masterton's death could have been prevented -- and would be today. "When he had headaches early on, we wouldn't have had him on the ice," he said. Id been knocked out myself playing football. He averaged a goal per game and finished with 49 points in 22 games in 195556 as the Canadiens won the Turnbull Cup. 19, a tradition the franchise continued to honor when it moved and became the Dallas Stars. Masterton told his friend that he had been having migraines. This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. — -- Bill Masterton, the only player to die from injuries suffered during an NHL game, might not have died in vain. "I'd been knocked out myself playing football. Awareness about brain injuries and how to treat them has come a long way since then. Thats what men did. Their professional athletic careers may have ended with eerie similarity exactly 25 years apart. [15], Several awards were named in Masterton's memory. Only a handful of NHL players wore them at the time, including Mastertons teammate, Boudrias. They and many others claim the league could be doing more to protect its players from returning to action too soon. Back at the 1968 All-Star Game, discussion among beat writers went beyond the helmet debate to come up with a way to commemorate the league's first casualty. "There's no doubt in my mind about that," Boudrias said. Bill Masterton, the only player to die from injuries suffered during an NHL game, might not have died in vain. Yet players such as Masterton learned to play hurt. Masterton had worn a helmet when he played college hockey in Denver because NCAA regulations required players to wear them, but he did not wear one as a professional. Masterton left pro hockey after two seasons when it appeared hed never make the NHL. Today his story is nearly forgotten, but for an annual NHL award that bears his name. [1] Following a second season in which he recorded 53 points in 30 games, Masterton chose to attend the University of Denver where he was offered a scholarship to play with the Denver Pioneers hockey program. "It is very rare to see that level of swelling in the brain from a single injury," he said. 19, a tradition the franchise continued to honor when it moved and became the Dallas Stars. "He was a team man off the charts.". Bill Masterton died on Jan. 15, 1968. "He didn't move after that. He had kept fit by playing on a barnstorming amateur team, the St. Paul Steers, and with the U.S. national team. But that has not happened fast enough for a group of more than 120 ex-NHL players, including Bernie Nicholls, Mike Peluso and Steve Payne, who are suing the league in a class-action suit for putting their neurological health at risk despite knowing the violent play involved. Nor did he see evidence of CTE, the progressive degenerative disease found posthumously in the brains of nearly 87 of 91 NFL players who suffered multiple blows to the head. That rotation was a contributing factor in the severity of his injury. Yeah was going to say maybe the only death by a player, not in general. "It's kind of good to hear that because it takes away some of the 'What if?'" My grandfather and grandmother were at this game, it was also their only NHL game they ever attended. So has NHL protocol, initiated in 2011, which has spotters to flag potentially concussed players and bans those from returning to games in which they were injured. [15] However, Masterton's death sparked an immediate debate on whether their use should be compulsory. [3], Masterton played three seasons in Denver between 1958 and 1961, appearing in a total of 89 games, scoring 66 goals and 196 points in that time. He bore the bruises of that hit and others in subsequent games -- on his left arm, both thighs and, unwittingly, his brain. . Murray Williamson, who coached both amateur teams Masterton played for, remembered a night in Rochester, Minnesota, when Masterton backed into a radiator in the dressing room and singed his rear end. TikTok video from That Stars Fan (@hockey_unpaused): "Bill Masterton is the only player in NHL history to die as a direct result of an injury suffered on the ice. He had been checked hard into the glass less yielding in those days two weeks earlier in a game against the Boston Bruins. Seven hours later, when the Hennepin County medical examiner performed an autopsy, they discovered the true cause of Masterton's death. When the brain hasn't healed completely from a previous injury, a subsequent blow can cause the type of sudden and severe swelling found in Masterton's brain. Bill Masterton is stretchered off the ice after being hit in a game against the Oakland Seals in 1968. Hes also convinced a helmet would have saved Mastertons life. After his death, his #19 jersey was officially retired by the Minnesota North Stars. That's what men did. It was a dictatorship. Theres something wrong.. [13] Masterton's Minnesota teammates, who were playing a game in Boston on the 14th, were informed that he had been removed from life support in the dressing room in what was ultimately a 92 loss to the Bruins. He had been checked hard into the glass -- less yielding in those days -- two weeks earlier in a game against the Boston Bruins. Its also the mindset that will shorten their lives and destroy their bodies. That was the NHL's code. [24] The University of Denver Pioneers hockey team named its most valuable player award after him,[25] and his Winnipeg high school, Miles Macdonell Collegiate, presents a scholarship in his name. Just that it was beating very irregularly, cause him to pass out/collapse. accessed ), memorial page for William Duncan "Bill" Cromie (24 Apr 1915-20 Feb 2002), Find a Grave Memorial ID 244481111, citing Riverside Cemetery . We lived with the accident for many years but did not talk about it.. Usually Masterton is described as the first death caused directly by an on-ice incident to differentiate from Morenz dying of complications. Masterton told his friend that he had been having migraines. States the autopsy report: "There was a blow to the left temple in a game some days prior to the fatal injury and the deceased is said to have complained of headaches in the left temporal region.". The Hennepin County medical examiner found evidence of a previous injury on the left side of Mastertons skull on the temporal region of the brain. He made the North Stars and scored the first goal in franchise history. Like many Canadian boys growing up in the '50s, Masterton listened to Saturday night radio broadcasts of "Hockey Night in Canada" and dreamed of Foster Hewitt making the call: "Masterton shoots, he scores!". But my brother was the worker and he had the ethic that you need to make the NHL.. William Masterton (August 13, 1938 - January 15, 1968) was a Canadian American professional ice hockey centre who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Minnesota North Stars in 1967-68. He starred at the University of Denver from 1957-61, helping the Pioneers win three national collegiate titles and earning tournament MVP honours his senior year. Realizing he was already gone, Masterton's parents, who had flown in from Winnipeg after they heard of the incident, and his wife, Carol, made the decision to remove Masterton from life support. The night before the Oakland game, Mastertons family gathered at the house of their neighbor, North Star goaltender Cesare Maniago, to celebrate Maniagos 29th birthday. They and many others claim the league could be doing more to protect its players from returning to action too soon. Or Richard Zednik who came close after his neck was cut by a skate and he lost a lot of blood. When he had headaches early on, we wouldnt have had him on the ice, he said. Hed got hit and even that night he said Gee, Ive really been getting these migraines and theyve been with me for about a week.. The night before the Oakland game, Masterton's family gathered at the house of their neighbor, North Star goaltender Cesare Maniago, to celebrate Maniago's 29th birthday. The night before the Oakland game, Masterton's family gathered at the house of their neighbor, North Star goaltender Cesare Maniago, to celebrate Maniago's 29th birthday. However, Masterton brushed it off. And he got hit a few games very hard at the NHL level. [21], Some players began to wear helmets following Masterton's death,[16] but adoption was slow. Longtime NHL coach John Muckler, who was then the coach of the Stars' second-tier farm team, the Memphis South Stars, believed that Masterton may have suffered a brain injury as early as training camp. [26] High schools in Bloomington, where the North Stars played their games, also award scholarships in Masterton's name. During the season, several players and coaches recalled seeing Masterton black out during rushes in practice. By "at" an NHL game I'm guessing you just meant players? After Masterton's death, the North Stars set up a scholarship fund in his name. asked Williamson, who has a photo hanging in his office of Masterton on the stretcher. Bill Masterton is the only man to die of injuries sustained in a National Hockey League (NHL) game. [29], Last edited on 16 February 2023, at 07:49, 1961 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, List of ice hockey players who died during their playing career, "Denver icers favored to whip CC in playoffs", "Denver centre Bill Masterton signs pro contract with Habs", "Doug Robinson voted A.H.L. For my iTunes documentary, "The California Golden Seals Story" - I interviewed three witnesses to the tragic sequence of events that led to the death of Minn. The following season, Blair traded Boudrias, who had scored the second-most points for the team in its first season, citing a drop in his production. He didnt move after that. Masterton had not told the North Stars' coach, Wren Blair, about his headaches, but Blair had thought something might be amiss and commented to the team trainer, "I wonder if we could have him checked," according to the Toronto Star, which first reported this story on May 28, 2011. [13] He joined the Honeywell Corporation where he worked on the Apollo program. The trophy named in Masterton's honor was originally presented by the NHL Writers' Association in 1968 to commemorate the late Bill Masterton, a player with the Minnesota North Stars, who . He cherished his son, Scott, 3, and daughter, Sally, 1. Yet that might not actually be the case. But even if they had, he might still have been in the lineup against Oakland. I really believe he was injured before the fatal blow. Yep, retired by the North Stars and carried over to Dallas. After Masterton's death, the North Stars set up a scholarship fund in his name. At 1:55 a.m. on Jan. 15, 1968 -- almost 30 hours after he struck his head on the ice -- Bill Masterton died at the age of 29. We are the premier subreddit to talk everything hockey! "I knew he was done.". He was a team man off the charts.. The death of DU hockey Alum Bill Masterton 40 years ago this week was tragic, unnecessary and foolish. The team doctor soon joined him. When Masterton's head struck the ice at Met Center, there was no skull fracture, but his brain swelled very quickly, evidenced by his dilated pupils and elevated blood pressure -- which pointed to a previous head injury. For the 1979-80 season, the league finally made helmets mandatory for new players -- allowing those who signed professional contracts prior to June 1, 1979, the option not to wear them -- but it would be 18 years before every NHL player complied. A team of doctors at the hospital treated Masterton with steroids and diuretics, but the swelling in his brain was so swift and severe that they decided against operating. Boudrias helped the team's trainer onto the ice to tend to Masterton. Like many Canadian boys growing up in the '50s, Masterton listened to Saturday . "You protect your elbows, hips, knees and hands, I figured, why not protect your head?" They felt it caused what was otherwise viewed as a clean, albeit hard, bodycheck to turn fatal. . "You hold out four fingers. Masterton was soft-spoken and modest, a quiet guy with a good sense of humor. It was always in the back of his mind.. [4] At the time of his graduation, he was the Pioneers' all-time leading point scorer, a record he held for 25 years. He understands how passion and perseverance can deliver both glory and death. And hopefully the lasthard to believe with how fast, heavy hitting, and dangerous this game is, it hasn't happened since. Since 1968, Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is voted to player who "best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship & dedication to hockey" pic.twitter.com/CU2adCoSaV Dave Stubbs (@Dave_Stubbs) January 15, 2020 Corry believes Masterton's death could have been prevented -- and would be today. Seven hours later, when the Hennepin County medical examiner performed an autopsy, they discovered the true cause of Masterton's death. When Minnesota executives, who had acquired his rights, invited him to a tryout, Masterton relished the second chance. He's also convinced a helmet would have saved Masterton's life. Masterton was knocked backward in the resulting collision and landed on his head. One of their sticks tangled with Masterton's skates as he slid a pass to his wing, and he lost his balance, pitching forward. He finished with a master's degree in business at Denver and landed a job at the Minneapolis-based technology company Honeywell, where he worked in the financial department for the Apollo project, married his high school sweetheart and started a family, adopting a son and a daughter. Bob Masterton remembers his brother telling him about the NHL offer over dinner. RIP Bill Masterton. Injury wasnt really of any importance in the sense that you didnt want to lose your job and if you couldnt play, obviously they had to fill their roster, said Walton, now a real estate agent in Toronto. He wanted it badly. Carol referred to the incident as a fluke, saying that it could have happened to anyone. 's top rookie", "Brain injuries takes life of Stars' Bill Masterton", "Star investigation: What really killed NHL's Bill Masterton", "North Star player's death 40 years ago changed the game of hockey forever", "N.H.L. One of their sticks tangled with Masterton's skates as he slid a pass to his wing, and he lost his balance, pitching forward. He cherished his son, Scott, 3, and daughter, Sally, 1. The Professional Hockey Writers Association proposed -- and the league immediately approved -- the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy to be awarded annually to the player who best exemplifies the virtues of perseverance, courage and sportsmanship that Masterton displayed. "It sounded like a baseball bat hitting a ball," teammate Andr Boudrias recalled. What happened in the days leading up to that fatal moment in Minneapolis, when Masterton played his 38th and final NHL game, has been largely a mystery. The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey. That dream carried him through junior hockey in his hometown of Winnipeg and three years at the University of Denver, where he was an All-American and led the Pioneers to the 1961 NCAA championship, but the dream stalled after two years of minor league hockey in the Montreal Canadiens' organization. Since Masterton was off balance at the time he got checked (cleanly; there was no penalty called), his brain twisted inside of his skull before his head struck the ice. Seven hours later, when the Hennepin County medical examiner performed an autopsy, they discovered the true cause of Masterton's death. Didn't he break his leg then die from complications as a result of it. 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