Rarely told reason cited for Bill Masterton's death underlines concussion issue

— -- Bill Masterton, the only player to die from injuries suffered during an NHL game, might not have died in vain. The underlying cause of his death almost 50 years ago elevates awareness about the risks of undiagnosed concussions -- and the NHL's responsibility to address them.

On that fatal night at Met Center on Jan. 13, 1968, the Minnesota North Stars center, playing against the Oakland Seals, carried the puck across the blue line and cut to the right while Seals defensemen Larry Cahan and Ron Harris closed in. One of their sticks tangled with Masterton's skates as he slid a pass to his wing, and he lost his balance, pitching forward. He didn't see the other defender, who caught him with a clean check that knocked him backward. Masterton, who was not wearing a helmet, smacked the back of his head on the ice. "It sounded like a baseball bat hitting a ball," teammate André Boudrias recalled.

Ken Lindgren, a fan watching the play about 10 rows up in the stands just above the blue line, can still visualize the impact.

"We watched his head bounce," Lindgren said. "He didn't move after that. It got deathly quiet."

Boudrias helped the team's trainer onto the ice to tend to Masterton. The team doctor soon joined him. They carried Masterton off on a stretcher, and an ambulance rushed him to Fairview Southdale hospital, seven miles away.

"His eyes were gray at the time -- it was like a horror picture," Boudrias says. "I knew he was done."

A team of doctors at the hospital treated Masterton with steroids and diuretics, but the swelling in his brain was so swift and severe that they decided against operating.

Realizing he was already gone, Masterton's parents, who had flown in from Winnipeg after they heard of the incident, and his wife, Carol, made the decision to remove Masterton from life support. At 1:55 a.m. on Jan. 15, 1968 -- almost 30 hours after he struck his head on the ice -- Bill Masterton died at the age of 29.

Seven hours later, when the Hennepin County medical examiner performed an autopsy, they discovered the true cause of Masterton's death.