Star investigation: What Really Killed NHL's Bill Masterton
(from the Toronto Star)
By Rob Cribb and Randy Starkman
Staff Reporters
May 28, 2011 - It's the most gruesome distinction in hockey: Only one player has ever died from injuries directly suffered in an NHL game.
When Bill Masterton's limp body collapsed to the ice on Jan. 15, 1968, the Minnesota North Stars centre appeared to be the victim of an innocuous hit. Thirty hours later, he was dead in hospital.
Today his story is nearly forgotten, but for an annual NHL award that bears his name. It honours perseverance and dedication to hockey.
The irony is that perseverance probably killed Bill Masterton.
What happened in the days leading up to that fatal moment in Minneapolis, when Masterton played his 38th and final NHL game, has been largely a mystery.
But a Star investigation has uncovered evidence that an earlier, untreated concussion was likely responsible for Masterton's death at the age of 29.
That injury was compounded by the age-old hockey code that preaches shake-it-off-and-get-back-out-there resilience in the face of pain, serious injury, even brain trauma.
"I've never said this to anyone before," said Wren Blair, Masterton's coach and general manager, now 85. "I've never thought that it had anything to do with that hit. I think he had a (pre-existing) cerebral brain hemorrhage."
Those closest to Masterton concur he was suffering from a brain injury before he stepped on to the ice that night, as does a medical expert who reviewed an autopsy report obtained by the Star.
Minnesota goalie Cesare Maniago's wife, Mavis, had a clear view of Masterton's fall from her seat in the stands. She, too, believes something else was wrong with Masterton that night, something that explains why the routine bodycheck left him unconscious even before he hit the ice.
"I saw Bill's head after he was just checked from behind and it just looked like his eyes were in the back of his head," she said. "I thought he was out then and just went fast right down."
While much in hockey has changed since Masterton died, one thing hasn't: Playing hurt is a sacred principle.
"Billy" Masterton's commitment to the game was bred in the bone.
A ritual unfolded every Saturday evening in the small Masterton home in Winnipeg's East Kildonan neighbourhood: brothers Bill and Bob took a bath, slipped into pajamas and sat together in front of a tiny electric fireplace while listening to Foster Hewitt on the radio.
"We spent a lot of time dreaming," said Bob. "But my brother was the worker and he had the ethic that you need to make the NHL."
He didn't just work on the ice. He was a rarity in the way he prepared for a life outside the game. He starred at the University of Denver from 1957-61, helping the Pioneers win three national collegiate titles and earning tournament MVP honours his senior year. More importantly, he earned a degree.
Masterton left pro hockey after two seasons when it appeared he'd never make the NHL. He pursued a master's degree in business engineering, eventually joining technology giant Honeywell, where he worked on the financial end of the Apollo project. He settled in Minneapolis with his high school sweetheart, Carol, and they adopted two children, Scott and Sally.
In 1967, Masterton's nearly forgotten hope of playing in the NHL re-emerged with the league's expansion from six to 12 teams. The Montreal Canadiens, which owned his rights, traded them to Minnesota. Blair, in charge of the North Stars, came calling.
Bob Masterton remembers his brother telling him about the NHL offer over dinner. "I looked at him and said, 'What are you going to do?' because he was just starting a young family," said Bob. "It was kind of one of those things where I asked the question but I knew what he was going to do. It was always in the back of his mind."
The season started with promise: Masterton scored the first goal in North Stars history. But 37 games later, in the days leading up to the hit that would kill him, there were signs all was not right.
The night before the fatal game against Oakland, Masterton was at Maniago's house with his family - Scott was 3 and Sally, 1 - helping the genial goaltender celebrate his 29th birthday with teammates.
In a quiet moment, Masterton made a rare admission to Maniago: He was struggling with the effects of a head check into the glass during a recent game.
"He had been complaining of headaches," said Maniago. "He'd got hit and even that night he said 'Gee, I've really been getting these migraines and they've been with me for about a week.'"
In several games prior to the tragedy, Blair had also noticed something strange.
"I'd said to our trainer, 'Do you ever look at Billy when the game's on?'" Blair recalled. "His face is blood red, almost purple. (The trainer) said, 'Yeah, I notice that too.' I said, 'I wonder if we could have him checked. There's something wrong.'"
Masterton, who was always quick to dismiss concerns, was never sent to a doctor.
"I'm fine," he'd say, the mantra of a thousand hockey players.
Carl Johnson, assistant general manager of Minnesota's farm team in Memphis, said he was told Masterton had blacked out while on line rushes during practice.
Former Edmonton Oilers coach John Muckler, who coached the North Stars' farm club in Memphis that season, said he saw signs of trouble with Masterton in training camp.
"I really believe he was injured before the fatal blow. I know that in our training camp he got hit hard a couple of times. And he got hit a few games very hard at the NHL level. His aggressiveness got him."
Masterton wasn't big. But he played as though he was, said Muckler.
"He wasn't the most talented guy in the world but he really wanted to play. . . . He wanted it badly. I've never seen a person work so hard. He'd never show when he got hurt. He never laid down."
When he suffered the final hit of his career, Masterton was making his patented move - crossing the opposing blueline and cutting to one side before passing the puck to a teammate.
Oakland defencemen Larry Cahan and Ron Harris moved in to check Masterton, who wound up falling on the back of his head. One account holds that Masterton regained consciousness for a few moments and repeated the words, "Never again, never again," before closing his eyes for the final time.
Neatly typed on Masterton's 1968 autopsy report are the words, "Likely Cause of Death: Cerebral contusions" sustained from a "fall on ice."
After reviewing the document, Dr. Charles Tator, a Toronto neurosurgeon and concussion expert, believes Masterton suffered "second impact syndrome," a rare occurrence where a second concussion happens on the heels of a first concussion that never healed, causing rapid and severe brain swelling.
"We know the second hit can be fatal. The usual story is just as has unfolded here, that they can even talk a bit after that final hit and then they lapse into a coma," Tator said. "There is evidence of massive brain swelling . . . that is out of proportion to the blow that he got. My interpretation is that the seeds of this catastrophic injury were sown days before."