from Mike Beamish of the Vancouver Sun,

For the first time in a public forum, however, the former Vancouver Canucks enforcer acknowledged that he has a mental illness, a condition he suspects is linked to the pounding he took as an NHL player. Odjick provided powerful testimony Tuesday at a sports-related concussion symposium at the Chan Centre for Family Health Education at B.C. Children’s Hospital....

“I remember, in the last two years of my career, getting a concussion, going into Philly and walking around,” Odjick explained. “People just looked like Martians. They looked like they were from another planet. I couldn’t remember how to get to the rink for half the season. I was totally forgetful. I couldn’t remember what time it was, what I was supposed to be doing. It was just one turn to the right, one turn to the left to get to the rink, but I got lost just going there. Everybody (players) wanted to play me in the simplest of card games because they knew they could beat me.”

Odjick related how his hockey fights developed into a strange addiction. He craved the blows, both in delivering and receiving them, because it confirmed his worth as a hockey player.

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