By William P. Meehan III, MD, director of the Micheli Center for
Sports Injury Prevention, director of the Sports Concussion
Clinic and director of Research for the Brain Injury Center at
Children’s Hospital Boston. His research has been funded by the
National Institutes of Health, the National Football League and
the Center for the Integration of Medicine and Innovative
Technology. Meehan is author of the book Kids, Sports, and
Concussion: A Guide for Coaches and Parents. On June 6, 2011,
the Boston Bruins were playing the Vancouver Canucks in game 3
of the Stanley Cup finals. Bruins forward Nathan Horton had
passed the puck to his teammate Milan Lucic when he was
blindsided by the Canucks’s Aaron Rome, who buried his left
shoulder into Horton’s face. Horton’s head was spun backwards,
down towards the ice. The back of his head was the first part of
his body to make contact with the ice. He was knocked
unconscious. His arms became rigid. His eyes rolled back in his
head. He had a convulsion. Nathan Horton was