Hit ‘n Run

Skier Sarah Burke dies

SALT LAKE CITY — Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke has died after sustaining serious injuries in a skiing accident on Jan 10.

Burke died at age 29 in hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, after tearing the artery that supplies blood to the brainstem during a training run in the superpipe at a personal sponsor event at the Park City Mountain resort.

As the result of a fall after completing a jump, she suffered a ruptured vertebral artery, one of the four major arteries supplying blood to the brain.

This caused her to go into cardiac arrest.

Emergency personnel responded and CPR was administered on the scene during which time she remained without a pulse or spontaneous breathing.

Burke was rushed to hospital, where she was put on life support and therapeutic hypothermia was initiated to protect her brain. On Jan 11, she had surgery to repair the torn artery, and had been in a medically induced coma until she died on the morning of Jan 19.

Doctors say the severe brain injury caused Burke to go into cardiac arrest. After the operation, tests showed that Burke had sustained severe irreversible damage to her brain due to lack of oxygen and blood. This brain damage from lack of oxygen was fatal.

She died surrounded by those she loved. In accordance with her wishes, Burke’s organs and tissues were donated to save the lives of others.

Burke’s love of freestyle skiing started early and took her from an unwanted pest on the halfpipe to one of its biggest stars and advocates, winning Winter X Games gold medals and lobbying for the sport’s inclusion in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Born in Barrie, Ont, and raised in Midland, Burke got her start skiing with her family when she was five years old. She took up moguls skiing and competed for Team Ontario before switching to freestyle and winning the halfpipe competition at the 2001 U.S. Open of Freeskiing.

Burke won four gold medals in superpipe at the Winter X Games and she was the early favourite for the event’s Olympic debut.

She also won the 2005 world championships, was the first woman to land a 1080-degree spin (three full rotations) in competition and won the 2007 ESPY award as Best Female Action Sports Athlete.

Though she was unsuccessful in getting halfpipe included at the Olympics in Vancouver, Burke continued to be a driving factor in the sport’s inclusion in the 2014 Games.

Burke’s accident has raised many questions concerning the safety of athletes competing in halfpipe and superpipe events, yet athlete safety had always been a primary concern of Burke’s, from the beginning of her journey to have her sport included in the Olympics.

Bobsledders recovering from crash

ALTENBERG, Germany — The Canadian four-man bobsleigh athletes involved in a crash during a training run Jan 5 have been released from hospital, but their horrific experience continues to take a toll physically and emotionally.

Three of the four team members sustained serious, but non-life-threatening, injuries. Their sled piloted by Chris Spring of Calgary hit the roof of the track after a late entry into one of the final corners and subsequently struck a rollover barricade.

Spring, 27, sustained a broken nose, lacerations and bruising in the crash. He was discharged from Dresden University Hospital Jan 5.

Spring told reporters on a conference call that his recovery is “going well” at this early stage, though he continues to experience pain and numbness in his lower back and right buttock, where he sustained a 20-inch cut.

The pilot hopes to resume upper-body workouts but “very much doubts” he’ll be competing for the rest of the season.

Bill Thomas, 26, was released from Dresden Friedrichstadt Hospital and has returned to Canada as has Graeme Rinholm, 26, who suffered a broken fibula, lacerations to his upper legs, and underlying musculature.

Toronto’s Tim Randall, 25, sustained minor injuries.

Spring, who was preparing for his first competition at the notoriously difficult Altenberg track, said he felt he “had a good handle” on the course before crashing, which he added is “a part of our sport and always will be.”

Spring did, however, challenge the integrity of the track’s roof, which is commonly placed over some segments of bobsleigh runs in order to reduce the chances of a sled flying out. “This didn’t happen in my case,” Spring said. “Unfortunately, my sled … broke through the roof, hitting, from what I understand, some solid structure up there, pretty much stopping the sled in its tracks. This shouldn’t happen. It’s like having a guardrail on a mountain highway that’s made of papier mâché.”

Don Wilson, the CEO of Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, said the Canadian team had questions about the age of the track, which dates back to the 1980s.

Former Blues GM Caron dies

MONTREAL — Ron Caron, the fiery and brilliant long-time hockey executive known as the “Professor,” has died.

He was 82.

Caron worked as a scout and assistant general manager under longtime GM Sam Pollock and helped build the Montreal teams that won Stanley Cups in 1971, ‘73 and four straight titles from ‘76-‘79.

The Gatineau, Que, native was named general manager of the St. Louis Blues in 1983 and spent over a decade in the position, acquiring stars such as Brett Hull and Doug Gilmour to build a franchise struggling to survive into a competitive team.

He died Jan 9. Caron suffered a stroke in 2003 and had been living in a nursing home in recent years.

Despite a limited budget under owner Harry Ornest, Caron’s Blues reached the Campbell Conference final in 1985-86, taking the Calgary Flames to a decisive seventh game.

He was a legend in NHL press boxes, a non-stop talker whose booming voice could be heard from one end to the other. At times, he would pound a fist and shout at his team if they weren’t playing well.

He became a part time scout for the Montreal Junior Canadiens in 1959-60 and became head scout for the team in 1968-69.

He made his name as a general manager with the Blues, who had a 438-405-127 record and won two division titles during his time with the club. The Blues made the playoffs in each of Caron’s seasons as GM.

Raonic shoots up ATP rankings

CHENNAI, India — Canadian Milos Raonic jumped six spots to No 25 in the ATP world rankings after his victory at the Chennai Open earlier this month.

The hard-serving 21-year-old from Thornhill, Ont, defeated top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) in the final of the Chennai Open on Jan 8 for his second career ATP World Tour victory.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic remained in top spot, well ahead of Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer of Switzerland.

The top three also remained the same on the women’s rankings list. Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark was No 1, followed by Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

Rebecca Marino of Vancouver rose one spot to No 63.

In men’s doubles, Toronto’s Daniel Nestor and Belarusian partner Max Mirnyi were tied for third behind American twins Bob and Mike Bryan.

Raonic, who peaked at No 25 in the rankings during his breakthrough season last year, won all 48 of his service games in early January. He became the first player to win a tournament without dropping serve since Federer did it at the 2008 grass-court event in Halle.

Raonic started last season at No 156 in the rankings and went on to win the ATP Newcomer of the Year award.

‘En francais’ chanted at Habs game

MONTREAL — Fans filing into the Bell Centre on Jan 7 hoping for a Montreal Canadiens win were met by protesters with another goal in mind. They want the organization to be more French.

Several hundred Quebec nationalists, handing out miniature Quebec flags and chanting “Montreal, en francais,” held a rally directly in front of the building.

The group was protesting the recent appointment of Randy Cunneyworth as head coach. He is the first Montreal head coach unable to speak French in 40 years.

“It shows a lack of respect for Canadiens fans,” said Jean Archambault. “We are not against the Canadiens as an institution. We are against the management of the Canadiens.”

Guy Lafleur, one of the team’s most-beloved players, suggested the whole thing was overblown. “It doesn’t matter if you speak German, Russian, or whatever. The bottom line is: Win the games and then make the playoffs and try to win the Stanley Cup.”

Lafleur — who also played with the Quebec Nordiques and New York Rangers — said his old coaches Bob Berry and Scotty Bowman never spoke French in the dressing room and rarely with the media.

Geoff Molson, the team’s president and owner, was the target of much of the protesters’ criticism.

Someone even brought a dummy of Molson and put a noose around its neck.

Protesters also complained the music played at the Bell Centre is in English, that announcements are in both languages and that the team has few francophone players.

Crosby still feeling concussion

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins finally acknowledged what has seemed obvious for weeks: Sidney Crosby is still having concussion symptoms.

Crosby is exercising lightly, much as he did during his nearly 11-month concussion layoff early in 2011, and there is no timetable for his return. It is almost the same scenario the Penguins have dealt with for nearly a year, except for the brief two-week window in which Crosby returned earlier this season.

“He’s still having some symptoms,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said following an off-day practice at the team’s suburban practice rink in Canonsburg, Pa.

Bylsma did not say whether Crosby has a new concussion or if he is experiencing a carryover from the vestibular concussion that sidelined the NHL’s highest-profile player from Jan 6 until Nov 21, 2011.

While Bylsma offered no other details, this was the first time since Crosby last played on Dec 5 against Boston that the Penguins confirmed their superstar centre is dealing again with concussion-related problems.

Ban fighting in hockey: journal

OTTAWA — Fighting in hockey should be stopped because it leads to head trauma that causes progressive brain damage, said an editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in late December.

“The tragic story of Sidney Crosby’s layoff due to concussions has not been sufficient for society to hang its head in shame and stop violent play immediately,” Dr. Rajendra Kale, a neurologist and Interim editor of the CMAJ, wrote in an editorial.

Kale says that a ban should be imposed on all forms of intentional head trauma based on new research from the Boston University School of Medicine that shows the presence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the brains of prominent hockey players Rick Martin, Reggie Fleming and Bob Probert.

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease, causes memory problems, changes in personality and mood, Parkinson-like symptoms and changes in speech and gait.

Kale cites 2009 research from the same Boston University researchers that revealed CTE in 50 of 70 athletes studied.

“The simple message from the work done by McKee and colleagues is that the brain does not tolerate repeated hits,” he writes.

The editorial, “Stop the violence and play hockey,” calls on doctors to support a ban and “endorse deterrent penalties in hockey.”

While he acknowledges that hockey fans may take issue with a sport that is less exciting following such a ban, Kale cites the ban on smoking, which has not reduced the number of people frequenting bars and restaurants.

“Instead, the rates of admission to hospital for heart attacks and lung diseases decreased. Should we not stop the violence now and get on with the main objective of hockey, which is scoring goals?”

Patrick Chan wins Lou Marsh award

TORONTO — Patrick Chan, the 21-year-old figure skater from Toronto, has won the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s athlete of 2011.

Chan, who won his first world championship in April with a world record score and went undefeated for the calendar year, topped a shortlist of athletic compatriots that included last year’s winner Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds; speed skater Christine Nesbitt; shot putter Dylan Armstrong; Milwaukee Brewers reliever John Axford; and show jumping champion Eric Lamaze.

The Lou Marsh Trophy, first awarded in 1936, is named after the former Toronto Star sports editor and voted on by a panel of sports writers, editors and broadcasters from across Canada.

After a disappointing fifth-place finish at the 2010 Olympics, the 20-year-old figure skater regrouped and returned to the ice invigorated.