Now that it’s Hockey season in Canada, we are seeing several reports of “retiring” players.
The most recent one got my attention, Brandon Sutter.
Young guy, 36 years old, we enjoyed cheering him on when he played for the Vancouver team, and we were looking forward to his move to the Alberta team.
The announcement was made on a local news broadcast, and they emphasized “long Covid” several times, switched to the weather announcer, who also made mention of “long Covid” being a “common” thing “these days”.
Brandon Sutter, who spent three seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2012 to 2015, has announced his retirement from hockey after 13 seasons in the NHL. Sutter's last season was…
bvmsports.com
A bit of digging, and there’s this:
“Like most of his teammates, Sutter first contracted COVID-19 in the Canucks’ team-wide outbreak midway through the 2020-21 season. Despite some harrowing moments for him and his wife and their kids, they recovered and Sutter finished the season.”
[…]
“I came back and played after (shutdown) and I didn’t really noticed any issues. Then in May and June, I started having a couple of issues of being short of breath and then I’d be okay. I could train and skate and it wasn’t really an issue,” Sutter
Oh, but wait, then this happened in September 2021:
“The NHL plans to punish unvaccinated players more harshly if they test positive for the coronavirus as part of new protocols for the upcoming season.”
Teams will be able to suspend unvaccinated players without pay if they cannot participate in hockey activities as part of the protocols, according to a person with knowledge of the new rules. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Friday because the protocols had not been announced.”
[…]
“And he went to get vaccinated, because that was just the right thing to do. But, it seems, the vaccine triggered bigger symptoms, putting his off-season training to a halt.
His heart-beat would race to extreme levels during exercise and then wouldn’t settle when he would rest. He struggled at times climbing stairs. He would get exhausted helping out around the house and playing with his kids.
The universe just wasn’t on his side, something he long ago came to terms with. Getting vaccinated was the right choice; his timing was just very, very bad he believes.
“I wish I would have waited until I felt 100 per cent healthy before getting the vaccine, but at that time, nobody really knew the answers on this stuff,” he said. “It was trial and error and really didn’t work out for me. I’m in no way an anti-vaxxer.”
Brandon Sutter, who skated for six seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, will attend the Edmonton Oilers' training camp on a try-out basis.
theprovince.com
Must be attributed to “long Covid”, not the mystery juice, my guess is because...$$$