Area youth hockey coaches heartily endorse a new free concussion-testing program sponsored by the Chicago Blackhawks.

The coaches will recommend their players participate in the program, offered through Feb. 1 at Athletico training and physical rehabilitation centers throughout the Chicago area. Local Athletico outlets are at 1479 S. Lee St., Des Plaines, and  6000 W. Touhy Ave., Niles.

The concussion program involves “baseline” testing of cognitive skills and reaction time that can be measured against similar reactions after a player has suffered a head injury. Players ages 13 to 18 are eligible for the test.

Earlier: IceLand Opens New Rink

“It’s fantastic,” said Mike Tompkins, coach of Maine Township High School District 207's hockey program, drawing players from all three high schools – Maine West, Maine East and Maine South. “It’s great the Hawks are involved. It should have been done a long time ago. It’s long overdue.”

“I would endorse it, for older kids,” said Marty Stankowicz, general manager of the IceLand facility, 8435 Ballard Road in Niles, which draws youth players from Niles, Des Plaines and surrounding suburbs. Tompkins’ teams use IceLand as their home rink; it opened an outdoor rink this week they will use as an additional practice space.

“Everyone has different symptoms,” Niles resident Stankowicz said. “I was a policeman for 27 years dealing with head injuries. Any head injury is serious.”

Girls just as much at risk for concussions

The program also should benefit teen-age girl players, who are at similar risk for concussions even though their leagues ban on-ice checking. Collisions and falls are just as traumatic no matter what gender is playing.

“I absolutely support it,” said Pat Cline, a Des Plaines native and Maine West alum who now coaches the Glenbrook Girls hockey team. “I think it’s a great way to protect the players. It’s critical for everybody playing sports to be careful about head trauma.”

Stankowicz attended an Oct. 27 coaches’ seminar held by Elizabeth Pieroth, a neuropsychologist who advises the Blackhawks on their own concussion issues. He recalled how Pieroth lectured that many general practitioners don’t know how to propertly treat concussions.

Pieroth runs the Midwest Center for Concussion Care, which has an office at  Advocate Lutheran General Hospital where her business partner, Shaun O’Leary, is a neurosurgeon. The concussion-care center will administer the testing program at the Athletico outlets.

The seminar kicked off the concussion-testing program, which Pieroth modeled after a cooperative program by the Pittsburgh Penguins and the University of Pittsburgh. The Blackhawks were an easy sell, she said, especially at a time when the concussion issue came under scrutiny this year after revelations of long-term brain damage to football players and lingering after-effects of head trauma to hockey stars like the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby.

Test looks at memory and reaction times

“We assess what pre-morbid functioning levels are so if they do get concussed, you re-evaluate them,” Pieroth said. “We compare post-injury testing to (pre-injury) baseline testing to see if there’s indication of impairment coming from injuries.

“The test looks at memory, verbal and visual stimuli; attention and information-processing speed; the idea of taking information in, making a decision and responding to it, which is really key in sports that are fast-moving like hockey. We look at pure reaction time, which is motor (skills).”

The test can be administered to athletes as young as 12, but Pieroth opted to start at 13, the minimum age for “bantam” play in youth hockey. High-school players perform at the “midget” level. A baseline test for younger players is in the experimental, or “beta” stage, Pieroth said.

The coaches already have checklists of questions they ask potentially concussed players. The baseline results will give them and medical personnel treating the players a more accurate reading.

They’ve already had personal experiences with concussions. Tompkins was concussed three times as an amateur hockey player in Canada.  Stankowicz’s daughters have been injured on-ice – and not all playing hockey.

“Samantha was figure-skating in seventh grade,” he said. “She fell on the ice and struck the back of her head. She spent a couple of days in the hospital. There was no baseline testing then. We don’t know what caused the fall. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head. Allison was a goalie, and has taken a couple of head shots.”

Cline said one his players was concussed. “As soon as she came off the ice, she’s not playing,” he said. “They’re woozy, their pupils dilate, they can’t seem to focus.”

Tompkins recently asked an injured player: “What day is it, what’s two plus two, what’s my name, what rink are we at, who’s the president of the U.S? He answered quickly and correctly. That’s what I’m going to do all the time.  An injured Maine Township player will be walked by one of the three assistant coaches to the locker room while a parent is called down.

“Three of my four teams have medical staff, a parent who is in the medical field,” Tomkins said.

Prior to the start of the Blackhawks program, much of Cline’s knowledge about concussions came from his wife, Jessica Paisley, assistant emergency-room director at West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park.

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