One of the unquestioned leaders and most dependable members of the Okotoks Junior A Oilers for the past two seasons has decided to hang up his skates as a result of lingering symptoms of a concussion.
Okotoks Oilers defenceman Matt Maleschuk made the decision to end his Junior career prematurely after dealing with pervasive post-concussion issues since February.
“ It ' s something I never expected to do and obviously I wanted to play another year,” said Maleschuk who was entering his final year at the Junior level. “ I kind of came to the realization when June-July rolled around and I wasn ' t able to get through a full workout without having some pretty heavy symptoms.”
His post-concussion symptoms, characterized by dizziness, lightheaded feelings and severe headaches, emerged when the Calgarian pushed himself physically this summer.
“ I kind of realized something a little more serious was going on.”
The 19-year-old blueliner then sought advice from his concussion specialist, Dr. Brian Benson, a physician for The Sport Medicine Centre at the University of Calgary, who has seen Maleschuk for all six of his concussions through his hockey career.
“ I never really thought seriously about quitting hockey even in the summer when I was struggling,” Maleschuk admitted. “ He put it blatantly that it was time to start thinking about my future outside of hockey.
“ I really respect his opinion and once he said that it sort of sunk in that I probably physically won ' t be able to grind out the year and realized I should look towards moving on.”
Walking away from a game he ' s played since the age of five, in his final season of Junior eligibility when most college scholarships are dolled out, was not an easy decision for Maleschuk.
“ That ' s the toughest part, I ' m still slowly dealing with that and figuring out how to be a regular human-being,” said Maleschuk, who ' s enrolled at Mount Royal University in the fall. “ It ' s something I hope I ' ll be able to figure out soon, but in the meantime I ' m still in hockey mode and wish I was going to be at camp.”
Maleschuk, a hard-nosed, physical presence on the blueline, said he knew he couldn ' t trust himself to dial it down, despite his injury history, if he did play this season.
“ I ' m the type of guy that wants to play so bad and I ' d do anything to play and my health just isn ' t there,” he said. “ I figured if I ' m this bad right now what happens if I get another concussion? How bad am I going to be? How long is that going to take for me to get back to just being normal again?”
He sustained his most recent concussion, the first in which he ' s endured post-concussion issues, in the Oilers ' first round playoff series with the Drumheller Dragons in February on a seemingly innocent play.
“ I was just skating back for the puck on a waved-off icing and the Drumheller forechecker ' s head hit my head and I went into the glass and my head took the brunt of the force,” Maleschuk said of the play. “ It just kind of knocked me silly.”
The Calgary native, who suffered four concussions during his Junior career with the Calgary Royals/Mustangs, Flin Flon Bombers and Okotoks Oilers, said there ' s not much the Canadian Junior Hockey League can do to prevent head injuries.
“ My style of play, I ' m in the corners, I ' m getting in fights; it ' s unavoidable to take a bump on the head here and there,” he said. “ There ' s certain hits you ' d like to see out of the game, but (my last concussion) is just a perfect example of how on an innocent play someone can get hurt.”
Maleschuk, who suited up for 71 games with the Oilers from 2010-12, called his tenure with the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) team the best two years of his life.
“ I had so much fun playing hockey with the group of guys I was lucky enough to play with, made so many great friends I keep in touch with,” he said. “ I can ' t say enough how well the organization was run and I was treated very well there.
“ It ' s hard to leave that ' s for sure.”
Maleschuk was a popular teammate having served as an alternate captain in 2011-12 with the Oilers.
“ He was a great guy, great leadership guy, good solid defenceman, a penalty-kill machine,” said Oiler Robert Hamilton. “ He would stick up for you no matter what. He was always there and would block any shot going towards the net, just huge character right there.
“ We ' ll be missing a big spot on the backend, it ' s too bad, but it ' s just part of the game I guess.”
Oilers head coach/GM James Poole, who coached Maleschuk at the Midget level with the AAA Calgary Buffaloes, said the blueliner was a model citizen for the organization.
“ Just losing Matt and the kid he is, being such a good team player, great attitude, being fully committed to our program it is a big loss,” Poole said. “ We feel for Matt and wish him the best of luck as he moves on in life post-hockey.”
The Oilers coach said the team would like to keep Maleschuk involved with the franchise in some capacity.
“ We ' ll try and keep Matt around as much as we can, he ' s a great kid and we saw him as being one of the captains this year,” Poole said. “ It ' s tough for Matt to have to call it a career before he had intended so if there ' s things we can do to keep him involved we will.”
Oilers roster movement:
The Oilers sought to fill the void left by Maleschuk by acquiring 20-year-old defenceman Matt Tyson from the Brooks Bandits on Aug. 12 for future considerations. The Oilers then traded Jordan Clark to the Fort McMurray Oil Barons for futures.
Those plans were derailed when Tyson chose not to report.
Poole said the two trades were tied together.
“ Part of it was that we knew we had to try and fill a void on the backend and we thought the two separate deals would work out,” Poole said. “ That was the original intent there.”
Moving Clark, who tallied 11 points and 193 penalty minutes in his only season with the Oilers in 2011-12, was also motivated by the Parksville native not fitting in with the plans for the roster this season.
“ We weren ' t really sure where Jordan was going to fit in,” Poole added. “ We think we have some very good young recruits that we want to give an opportunity to play and transition into Junior.
“ That would have made it tough for Jordan to get the role he would want as a second-year player.”
