NHL players and the "flu"

[josie]

I was thinking about this the other day when they did a quick blurb on Cogliano and the fact that he has never missed a game. Something like 747 consecutive games. They call him an Iron Man. 

 

So did he just play through the bubble guts or just is one of those lucky souls who has a super high immune system? I mean, also consider injury likelihood, it's incredible. I remember a couple years ago when I followed the Wings a lot closer- a norovirus was ripping through the team and Kronwall and a couple other dudes were just hurling on the bench. Stepping into the tunnel/turning their backs and retching into buckets because so many of the team were sick and they had to dress. Half the team was AHLers at that point because of it. They had to mention it because Kronwall jumped off the ice early at a really bad time during his shift, opening them up for a soft goal. 

 

I live in fear of norovirus, getting it and listening to others with it. I would be calmer if you told me a serial killer was stalking me than if you told me a super bad norovirus outbreak was affecting places I need to be... I'm an obsessive hand washer now. 

[That Aud Smell]

I can't believe, with every point being as important that it is, that teams haven't taken proactive steps to prevent this stuff from sweeping through lockerrooms.

Does that sort of thing roar through your workplace, infecting most of the emoyees over the course of a couple of weeks every winter?

 

Colds I understand. Widespread "stomach flu" seems rather preventable.

 

There's literally nothing (more) to be done about it, though.

 

It does not. However I don't eat with, fly on planes with, ride on buses with, sweat and physically bang up against, nor shower and change clothes with, any of my co-workers (except my wife :flirt: ).  So I don't think my office is a good control group to compare vs. an NHL team.  

 

My recollection of fraternity (or dorm) living back in college however is that stomach bugs generally worked their way through the population pretty much every year. Or maybe that was alcohol poisoning? But anyway, my point is that I have no idea what NHL teams do or don't do to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, I just think that without some data and frame of reference this is sort of a fruitless discussion because their situation in terms of physical proximity is not really comparable to our every day experience. Maybe the army would be a better comparison. They certainly have a strong culture and rigorous practices trying to keep the soldiers from harmful bacteria and viruses before they worry about bullets and bombs.  

 

Thanks for the explanation above. The amount of fluids that these guys swap, the physical intimacy they share, are quite unlike just about every other work place you can imagine. When's the last time you and a co-worker used the same towel to wipe down after working yourselves into a heavy sweat? 

 

Wait - don't answer that.

 

Water bottles are one area where I have noticed some changes having been made over the years. I think some teams (players) try to have water bottles labeled for individual players (with numbers on them). I think that can get scuttled during games, though, when players end up in different areas of the bench. But maybe trainers assist with that (moving Jack's sport drink down to the end where he's bound to return?). I don't think so, though -- seems like too much work.

 

One tweak you definitely see is in the NFL -- only the bottle-assistants handle the Gatorade bottles (squirting the drink into waiting players' mouths). The fewer hands that touch those bottles, the better.

[woods-racer]

The players burden the greatest responsibility off all by informing the medical staff and not just *sucking it up and gritting through it*. Let the team doctors know what ails them before becoming the spreader of the plague would be the most beneficial prevention.