Boogaard - 670 PIMs in 174GP in the WHL, 240 PIM in 33GP in the ECHL, 466 PIMs in 109GP in the AHL, 589 PIMs in 277GP in the NHL
The real kicker is 206 PIMs in 27GP in playing for the AAA Regina Pats in the 98-99 season when he would have been 16-17 years old.
Belak - 746 PIMs in 211 GP in the WHL, 460 PIMs in 110 GP in the AHL, and 1263 PIMs in 549GP in the NHL
Oh, and just 186 PIMs in 57GP playing for the North Battleford Stars U15 AAA in 91-92 when he would have been 15-16 years old.
Yeah, these guys were total pacifists for sure.
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I get your point though - there's plenty of players who fought and fought more than these guys and they're still alive, what's the big deal? You're right, if the insinuation is that CTE isn't an automatic death sentence. Hell, fighting doesn't automatically mean you'll get CTE. But it certainly increases your chances of developing it, and ask any of these guys if they suffer from depression, anger management issues, memory issues, or have drug problems and you'll probably find a higher percentage than the regular population. You don't have to be dead to be suffering.
To me, the biggest issue is Boogaard and Belak started their roads to their ultimate death when they were 15, 16 years old. If you read the NYT article on Boogaard, they don't paint a picture of him being some total menace from a young age. He did the usual locker room shit, helmets and gloves and all that. He was just bigger than everyone else and he started fighting, partly to make a name for himself or make it big, as you said. That doesn't make it any better, IMO.