Concussed Savard back in Boston
Written by on March 8th, 2010 in Latest News.
Bruins centre Marc Savard met with club doctor Peter Asnis and a concussion specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital after travelling back to Boston.
Savard stayed in a Pittsburgh hospital Sunday as a result of a blindside hit he received from Penguins forward Matt Cooke during Boston’s 2-1 loss Sunday.
The veteran forward was able to eat on Monday, which is a excellent sign, according to a team spokesman.
The spokesman added Savard would remain under the care of Bruins medical staff until further notice, with no timetable set for his return.
Savard, who suffered a concussion, released a shot in the offensive zone with 5:37 remaining in the third period. As he leaned forward in the slot, Cooke charged in from his right, blindsiding the Bruins playmaker.
Cooke’s shoulder made clear and hard contact with Savard’s head, sending him down. Savard was on the ice for several minutes before being wheeled off by the team’s medical staff.
No penalty was called on the play.
“It should have been cracked down on a small while ago, I reckon, because you never want to see anyone hurt from anything like that,” said Bruins defenceman Johnny Boychuk of hits to the head. “Everybody’s got their guy on their team who’s going to police for your players.
“But there should be something done [by the NHL] about certain situations like that.”
Boychuk exchanged text messages with Savard on Sunday night to make sure he was OK and said “he seems to be fine.”
“He’s a well-liked guy in our room and you want to make sure he’s OK,” Boychuk added. “It’s a scary scene to have a guy go down like that.”
Cooke denied after the game that he was head-hunting, saying: “It felt like shoulder on shoulder to me. I don’t know. You don’t want to see anyone get hurt. I said sorry to him the best I could.”
The Bruins host Cooke and the Penguins on March 18.
The concussion is the latest injury in what has been a hard year for Savard, who was earlier sidelined by a broken foot and a partial tear of the medial collateral ligament in his knee.
With files from The Canadian Press
