On Nov. 24 the biggest loss for the Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team was not the one on the scoreboard on the Ice House.
Although the Ravens lost to the nationally-ranked McGill University Martlets by a score of 7-1, a devastating incident in the third period is what took precedent for the team following the game.
First-year defender Julianne Bruce was skating behind her own net when she turned around and lost an edge on her skate. She went down hard and fell head-first into the boards.
Bruce, lying motionless on the ice, said she was immediately attended to by the medical personnel of the Ravens. She said her jersey and shoulder pads were cut off, then she was taken off on a stretcher, and immediately taken to a nearby hospital.
“When I went into the boards, I hit my neck and my jaw against the ledge. I wasn’t totally unconscious, but I was in and out and didn’t really know what was going on,” she said.
“My initial reaction was both fear and non-fear,” Ravens head coach Shelley Coolidge said. “I was concerned, but knew we had a trained athletic therapist and staff who would correctly handle the situation.”
Bruce said she was diagnosed with a serious concussion, but did not suffer spinal problems from the incident.
“She was fortunate to get her head up just enough to avoid neck and spinal damage,” Coolidge said.
Bruce said she was released that night from hospital, but the injury was far from over.
“It was in mid-January. I was feeling pretty good that day so I did an eight-minute run and I had to stop because I was getting the symptoms again. As the day went on, I had increased nausea and severe migraine headaches and I couldn’t even stand up. I fainted that night, so they sent me back to the hospital again to get checked out and that is when they diagnosed me with post-concussion,” Bruce said.
Post-concussion syndrome is common following severe hits to the head and must be dealt with properly and with patience or the symptoms could return again.
“She had two concussions before, this was her third concussion, which makes it even more concerning,” her father, Steve Bruce, said.
Six months after the injury, Julianne is still suffering from the post-concussion symptoms, mainly consisting of spells of dizziness, motion sickness, and nausea.
“It is not as bad as it was back in January, but I haven’t been back on the ice yet to play a hockey game,” she said.
Recovering from the concussion and dealing with post-concussion syndrome has certainly not been an easy process for Julianne.
“Concussions have a lot of effects that people don’t really notice. It affects you mentally, and they say that there are signs of depression with concussions, which I definitely believe after this year,”she said.
“You don’t feel like yourself at all and you have no urge to do anything socially, and you don’t want to get out of bed in the morning to go to school. So it’s not even just the culmination of the headaches, but also the emotional, mental side of it,” she said.
On top of that, she said she found it hard to catch up in her classes because it was too difficult to concentrate. She said she contemplated dropping out and returning to Nova Scotia where her family lives.
“I had no motivation to be at school anymore because in classes I had to deal with severe headaches and I couldn’t pay attention,” Bruce said.
“I couldn’t write papers like I used to and I couldn’t play hockey at all either. For the two main reasons I was there, I couldn’t do anything properly, and so when I came home for Christmas I nearly begged my parents to let me stay home, but I’m definitely glad I didn’t.”
Coolidge said the Ravens season was deeply affected by the loss of Julianne. She was recruited to be a strong and reliable force on the blue line.
“She is a very calm, puck-moving defenceman who is able to read pressure very well, and so we missed depth on the defensive end without her. The other defence did an incredible job stepping up in her absence,” Coolidge said.
With the help of a chiropractor who specializes in neck injuries and concussions, and the hockey team’s trainer Mel Fiala, Bruce said she has been working hard towards a return to the game.
When the Ravens return to the ice next season, Bruce said she hopes to be one of them.
“It is a decision that needs to be made between the athlete and our health care team,” Coolidge said. “The main goal is that they return to being healthy and happy human beings.”
The decision to return to any sport following a serious injury, especially a concussion, where something so small could cause another one, is an incredibly difficult decision.
“I’m really split on her returning to the game,” her father, Steve Bruce, said. “I know her mother is dead set against her returning. If she has another concussion, she might not be so fortunate in terms of permanent damage. That’s my only concern.”
Despite her long journey Bruce said she is optimistic she will be able to return to the team this fall.
“At this point, as long as everything keeps on track like it has been, then I hopefully should be able to be ready for training camp in September,” she said.
