Tony O in Chicago with bro Phil and CTE

Tony’s still wearing the same shitty equipment I was wearing playing pick-up in Guelph in the early 2000s.

And that mask. I try to describe what goalie masks were like when I started playing in 1967, and the best description I can come up with is, they were plastic Halloween masks; at least Tony’s had some wire on it.

He also used to cover his body in Vaseline so the pucks would hurt less.

He still holds the record for single season shutouts, set in 1970.

I have an autographed picture of Tony tucked away somewhere.

Not bad for a couple of boys from the Sault (Ste. Marie).

Tony’s taken a lot of pucks to the head; so have I.

Tony seems fine, me not so much.

Today I (almost) finalized the paperwork to donate my brain to the Sports Brain Bank in Sydney upon my death. They’re affiliated with the U.S. branch and do research on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (see the movie Concussion). They’ve asked us to post a picture with our brain donor card.

Awareness of concussions and how special our brains are has come a long way since 1967, but there is still much that is unknown.

#MyLegacyPledge

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About Douglas Powell

A former professor of food safety and the publisher of barfblog.com, Powell is passionate about food, has five daughters, and is an OK goaltender in pickup hockey. Download Doug’s CV here. Dr. Douglas Powell editor, barfblog.com retired professor, food safety 3/289 Annerley Rd Annerley, Queensland 4103 dpowell29@gmail.com 61478222221 I am based in Brisbane, Australia, 15 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time