After all the punches and all the hits and all of the concussions they caused, it was an errant puck to the face that led to the end of Scott Parker's career.
Parker was playing for the San Jose Sharks in a preseason game after the 2004-05 lockout when the puck deflected up off his stick and hit him in the eye. He was never the same after that - playing a total of 56 games over the next four seasons before retiring - and now lives with the consequences of a life of head trauma: headaches, nausea, memory loss, and constant uncertainty.
"I'm not really afraid. I just want to get some answers," Parker told Adrian Dater of the Denver Post. "For me to have to explain the symptoms to people, they don't know. I sometimes say, 'Let me give you 20-plus concussions and then we can talk.' You just want someone to believe in you, for someone to say, 'You're not going crazy, it's not you.' They haven't pinpointed what's wrong. It's not conclusive."
Parker's wife Francesca sees good days and bad days from Parker, who needs to make notes to remind himself of routine activities and wears sunglasses nearly constantly to limit his headaches. Parker estimates he absorbed around 4,000 punches in his playing career. According to hockeyfights.com, he participated in over 100 fights since his days playing junior hockey in the WHL.
Although Parker and his wife had to fight for a proper health insurance plan from the NHL to pay for Parker's litany of medical expenses, he has not joined the growing class-action lawsuit filed against the league by former players. Parker is a firm believer that fighting makes hockey safer.
"Hockey is a game of accountability," Parker said. "Without the deterrent factor that guys like me could provide, you'd see guys breaking guys' bones every game from slashing and hitting and not having to account for yourself."
Parker wishes his role in the NHL had been more well-rounded, but the only thing he regrets about his career is when that puck hit him in the eye.
