from Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

Former Blues enforcer Todd Ewen was anything but an Animal.

We gave him that nickname because he needed one in his line of work. He had to battle the likes of John "Rambo" Kordic,Tie "The Albanian Aggressor" Domi and Stu "The Grim Reaper" Grimson on a regular basis.

It all seemed like good, not-so-clean fun in the fight-filled NHL. Players reveled in the league's macho image and the entertaining brawls brought fans to their feet.

Who knew the price these warriors would pay?

Ewen died at the age of 49 of an apparent suicide, CTV Calgary reported.

His demise raised another flag around the NHL community. The station reported that Ewen had struggled with depression in recent years.

As USA Today noted, Ewen "joins a long list of NHL enforcers who have died young, including Steve Montador (35), Wade Belak (35), Derek Boogaard (28) and Rick Rypien (27). There long been have questions about why more counseling isn't given to enforcers after they leave the game, when so many suffer from the lingering effects of repeated head trauma."

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