Originally Posted by Jack Tripper some rough notes:
1. do you expect to play next year?
"number one for me is getting healthy...if you lose track of your process you're setting yourself up for failure. for me, i have a process and that's doing things that help me get better and being in the right mindset that encouraging things are happening to me. at the first stage of my recovery, i couldn't even watch games based on the whole emotional aspect of your recovery...the stress of that isn't good for your brain...i'm at a stage now where i'm starting to do a bit of activity, so that's encouraging, but it's been tough"
2. do you still feel symptoms?
"yup...just looking towards the day where i have no more symptoms. my wife notices it, but i'm getting better"
3. are these lights bugging you?
"no, i can function day to day fine now...i'm disappointed the series ended because where i was at my progression i felt i could've played if the series went to another round, but at the same time it's a relief"
4. if it's up to you, would you be wearing a blue jersey next year?
"of course, but right now i just want to be healthy...i've had alot of ups and downs these last 18 weeks, and i'm sure i'll have some more, but the fact that you have challenging times ahead means you're improving"
5. when you were first hurt, did you have any inclination at that time you wouldn't play hockey this season?
"nobody did, that's why i never talked to you guys. at first, i didn't want to talk to the media until i was healthy, and then i didn't want to be a distraction to the team. i wasn't happy with the hit i took...i had my numbers facing the player in a dangerous spot in a dangerous zone, and he hit me. also, i'm disappointed in the league and i'm disappointed in colin campbell...it's been very inconsistent how he's handled things in those situations...he handles things based on the result, and i think that's wrong...he saw me get off the ice and didn't rule anything...nobody's going to take back the last 4 months from me and my family, i'm saying this for my peers in the league so they don't have to go through what i just did. i know campbell is good friends with general managers in the league, and it's very tough to hand down decisions on matters like this when you're friends with people. i think the league needs to have an outside party handling discipline so there's some consistency."
6. have you spoke to colin campbell?
"no. i've just been focused on my process. i just want consistency. the hit's not going to change anything...i'm saying this now because i want to change things moving on forward for players, this doesn't change anything for me, it's about protecting my peers in the league"
7. what changes can be made?
"back in the day, the players did it. now, it's a high level game and it's in colin campbell's hands, and if he doesn't do it consistently, and if he doesn't it's like society...they'll be chaos in society and i think we saw that with players getting injured. players have called for that in him getting more inconsistent. it's unfortunate, but you go rob a bank and rob $50 million or $5 bucks, the result is the same. that for me needs to be more aggressive and consistent and having an outside party that doesn't have friends in the league goes a long way"
8. the respect factor has disappeared among certain players?
"i'm not saying that, i'm just saying it's a fast-paced game. at the end of the day, if you put discipline there and is consistent, the players will react"
in summary, he did an all out attack on campbell's performance and credibility
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