from Brad Ziemer of the Vancouver Sun,
Friends and business associates of former Vancouver Canuck Gino Odjick say they were worried about his mental health in the days leading up to Pavel Bure’s jersey retirement ceremony on Nov. 2 at Rogers Arena.
Odjick, who has spent the past five days in a psychiatric unit at a Gatineau, Que., hospital, was not in a good state prior to Bure’s ceremony, his business manager Kumi Kimura said Tuesday.
Odjick and close friends blame his health problems on concussions suffered while playing hockey and serving as an enforcer who frequently got involved in on-ice fights.
“He was way gone at Pavel’s thing,” Kimura said. “We were walking on eggshells.”
Odjick was admitted to the psychiatric unit at UBC Hospital in early September, but was released after only a few days.
“We wanted him in the hospital until two or three days before Pavel’s event so he would be calm, be rested and get on the regular meds that control his brain,” Kimura said. “Our goal was to get him to Pavel’s retirement. He got there, but he walked out in sneakers and a hat when he should be wearing a suit. He knows better. That just wasn’t him.”
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