When Maple Grove Freshman Goalie Taylor McKenney took a 15 minute "Impact" test last year, she didn't really think twice about the 20 minute inconvenience. The computer generated quiz tested her cognitive skills and had little to do with hockey, or so she thought.
Fast forward a few months, Taylor took on a nasty collision in front of the net she was minding. "The first girl hit into her and her head hit back and hit the post," her father Chad said. "Then she fell on top of me and two other girls fell on top of me," Taylor added. After the second collision, she slammed her head into the ice.
McKenney suffered a concussion. She had a massive headache and had a hard time looking at even the faintest lights. Her concussion was confirmed when Taylor retook the "Impact" test the day after her collision.
"The memorization stuff was really hard for me," Taylor recalled.
"The impact test; 3 areas that it measures are memory, processing speed, and reaction time," North Memorial Speech Pathologist Jason Cardosi said.
Cardosi was the one who introduced the test to the team. He found Taylor's scores cut in half when she retook that test. "You can't fake it and you're comparing yourself to yourself," Chad McKenney said.
Because of the test, doctors knew what they were dealing with. Taylor was forced to sit out a game, and then retook the "Impact" test a few days later. She passed, her symptoms didn't return, and she returned to the ice a week later.
"If you return too early, that's where you start running into the second impact syndrome," Athletic Trainer Brian Helmrick said. The syndrome causes athletes to be more susceptible to future concussions.
Taylor feared that without the test, a doctor may have forced her to sit out a month, or maybe even miss the rest of the season. Because she scored well on the second retake, she was cleared to play during a crucial stretch of Maple Grove's schedule.
(Copyright 2009 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)
