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McGill doctorsplay a key role in keepingthe Montreal Canadiens'playershealthy. David Mulder, the team's long-tirue chief physician, has witnesseilplenty of high-stakesdrama, both on and off the ice. by Brendan Kelly, BA'85

David Mulder hasbeen tending to the medicalneeds of the Montreal Canadiensfor decades (Photo:Bernard BraulVl-a Presse)

Thereare few sportsteams in the world as steepedin history asthe Monfeal Canadiens.Diehard Habsfans can easily corfure up dozensof imagesfrom theteam's storied past. Maurice Richard'sfiery glare.Guy Lafleur on a breakaway,his hair whippedback. Patrick Roy's tauntingwink after foiling a scoringattempt.

Someof the most memorablemoments, though, have been downright scary.Former Habs forward Trent McCleary, gaspingfor air after apuck slammedinto his throat. Winger Max Pacioretfy,motionless on the ice, following a devastatinghit from toweringBoston Bruins defencemanZdeno Chara.

In his own way, Dr. David Mulder,MSc'65, has been an instrumentalpart of the Canadiens'rich history.As the team'slong-time chief physician,Mulder played a key role in ensuringthat Pacioretty'spromising career could continue, and that McClearydidn't die asa resultof his freakinjury.

Mulder is McGill's H. RockeRobertson professor of surgeryand the formersurgeon-in-chief for the McGill UniversityHealth Centre's Montreal General Hospital. He is renownedfor his expertisein traumacare. Mulder was oneof the doctorswho tendedto the woundedfollowing the shootingsat DawsonCollege and the EcolePolytechnique.

A perilous sport ,

Montreal Canadiensforward Max Paciorettychats with Mulder (Paul Chiasson/CanadianPress)

He hasalso beenstitching up hockeyplayers for the past 50 years,starting with the Junior Canadiensback in the early sixties.After spendingmuch of the pastfive decadesin ice rinks, Mulder is ableto providea uniqueperspective on how hockeyinjuries have changed over that period.

He sayshockey is almostcertainly a moredangerous game now.

"I think therehave been more life-threateninginjuries in the last l0 yearsthan therewere [in previousdecades]," says Mulder. "And it's interestingbecause people wore lessequipment back then.Some people believe playrng with a helmetgives you moreprotection so you takemore risks.Some people think it's relatedto players[having less] respect for oneanother. I think it's partly relatedto the speedof the gameand the fact the playersare a lot heaviernow."

Onething is certain,says Mulder. Hockey has never been risk-free. o'It's a gamethat's played on ice at high speed,with sharpskates, pucks traveling at high speeds,rigid boards-allof thoseare factorsin hockeyinjuries. o'The "I think we'll seea deathin the NHL some[day]," saysMulder. worst casewe everhad wasthe McClearyincident. But Paciorettywas in the sameballpark."

In a gameat the MolsonCentre between the Habsand the Flyersin 2000,McCleary, a Canadienswinger, suffereda fracturedlarynx and a collapsedlung after being hit in the neck by a speedingpuck. Mulder was one of the doctorsat the gamewho rushedto his side andwas part of a surgicalteam that performedan emergencytracheotomy. He believesMcCleary is still alive, in part, becausehe was transportedto an operatingroom at the Montreal GeneralHospital so swiftly.

Another frighteningmoment for Mulder was the Paciorettyincident. The promisingpower forward suffereda severeconcussion and a fracturedcervical vertebra. "It happenedright in front of me. I couldsee when he went downthat he wasrmconscious." Mulder's initial concern wasthat Pacioretty'sneck might havebeen broken. "I wasterrified."

Paciorettymade'afull recovery and he wasgrateful for the medicalattention he receivedfrom Mulder andhis MontrealGeneral Hospital colleagues. The player created a charitablefoundation to helppise funds for magneticresonance imaging equipment for the hospital's TraumaticBrain InjurS,Centre.

Frightening news

Canadiensteam doctors Vincent Lacroix (top left) andMulder escortHabs centre Lars Eller off the ice after the player sufferedan injury during a playoff game(Photo: Graham Hughes/CanadianPress)

Paciorettyisn't the only hockeyplayer to involve himself in fi.rnd-raisingfor the Montreal GeneralHospital after experiencinga personalhealth crisis. The SakuKoivu Foundation, launchedby the popular former captainof the Habs,raised millions of dollarsto purchasea positronemission tomography (PET) scanner for the hospital.

Mulder vividly recallsthe circumstancessurrounding Koiw's unexpectedbout with cancer.

"It really cameout of the blue." Koivu's wife calledMulder's office earlyone morning to saythe Finnish centrewas experiencingabdominal pain. Koivu went to visit Mulder andthe doctor quickly orderedup a seriesof tests."I [originally]thought he hadappendicitis," Mulder recalls. Oncethe resultswere in, the medicalteam quickly determinedthat the Habs starhad B-cell lymphoma.

But within hours,Mulder and his colleaguesrealized it was much worse.Koivu had non- Hodgkinslymphoma, a particularly dangerousform of cancer.Koivu receivedhis chemotherapy and radiotherapytreatments at the MUHC.

When Koivu triumphantlyretumed to the Canadienslineup, his headstill bald from his treatments,the Bell Centrewas rockedby a thunderousovation from the crowd. "The most emotionalnight of my career,"says Mulder.

Mulder saysthe Koivu caseillustrates how deepthe ties run betweenthe team,its medicalstaff andthe McGill Univgsity Health Centre,and how this providesthe Habswith an exhaordinary networkof medicalexpertise.

"It's beenio .rror-orrs confidencebooster that we havethe brightestminds in nearlyevery disciplipeat McGill," saysMulder. "It's sucha closerelationship. And so muchof the creditthat is givfurto [the Habsmedical team] really belongsto the relationshipbetween McGill andthe hockeyclub. It's a really importantcoalition."

A longstandingrelationship

He notesthat the relationshipdates back to the dayswhen the Habsbegan playing at the Montreal Forum and Montreal GeneralHospital medicalstaJf were locatedalmost literally acrossthe street,housed in a buildingthat now servesas the MontrealChildren's Hospital.

"The playersused to walk backand forth," saysMulder. "Elmer Lachtells me that whenhe had his nosebroken, he'd put on his skateguards, walk across,have it setand come back and play."

Mulder beganworking with the Habsorganization in 1963.He hadjust arived from Saskatchewanto begin as a surgicalresident at McGill, andwas hired to work with the Montreal Junior Canadiens.They playedevery Sundayafternoon at the Forum andMulder and a coupleof otherMcGill residentswere paid ten bucksa game.The junior teamincluded many soon-to-be NHL players,among them, future HabsR6jean Houle andMarc Tardil and Buftalo Sabresfirst- roundpick Rick Martin.

"At that time, no onewore aface maskor a helmet,so our primaryjob was to sutureup the o'There cuts,"says Mulder. weresignificantly more eye injuries and dental injuries [back then]."

Next, he went on to work with theNova ScotiaVoyageurs, the Habs'American Hockey League franchiseand a teamwhose roster included future Hockey Hall of FamersKen Dryden and Larry Robinson.After working with the Voyageurs,Mulder madethe move to the Big Teamand becamesurgical helper to DouglasKinnear, who wasthe team'shead physician till 1998.Mulder took overas head doctor for the Canadiensafter Kinnear. his mentor.retired. Oneof the biggestchanges that Mulderhas observed in recentyears has been the increased attentiongiven to headinjuries in hockey,particularly concussions. While it seemsas if these injuriesare on the rise,Mulder suspectsthis increaseis partly dueto the fact that we're better equippedto identifuconcussions today.

"'We'rerecognizing concussions in a morescientifrc way," saysMulder. ooThe NHL is beingvery proactiveby havingevery player get a baselineneuro-psych test. So after [a player]gets a hit, we havebetter metrics in termsof determiningif they areconcussed." He addsthat teams are far morecareful today in their assessmentof playerswith headinjuries, preferring to err on the side of caution.

Still, he thinksthe leaguecould do more.

"I think adoptionof tle Internationallce HockeyFederation's rules which penalizeall headhits andban fighting. completely [is a goodidea]."

After servingas the Habs' chiefphysician for l3 years,Mulder recently passed the torchto McGillpolleagueVincent Lacroix, BSc'86, MDCM'90, MedResident'94. As Mulderscales back his inyolvementwith the team,Lacroix has taken on the leadrole.

Lacroix is no strangerto the Habsorganization, having served on the toam'smedical staff from 1993to 2003.He hasbeen the headphysician for the MontrealAlouettes for the past17 years.

"The biggestchallenge is gettingused to the beat,"says Lacroix, an assistantprofessor of family medicineat McGill. "The volumeof gamesis significantlygreater in hockey[than football]."

For his part,Mulder isn't evencomfortable calling his long associationwith the Canadiens"a job."

oolview it asa privilege.It's an honourand it's fun. Theorganization is first-rate."

Brendan Kelly reports on entertainmentfor The Gazette,Variety and CBC Radio and blogs about hockey for topsh elfwithb k.wordpress. com.