He went way beyond the limits. That wasnt a punch. He was trying to grab the players eye with his thumb!Colin Campbell, then the NHLs head of discipline, uttered those words in an interview with The Canadian Press back in 2005. The incident he was referring to was a preseason fight between rugged New York Rangers blueliner Dale Purinton and Colton Orr of the Boston Bruins. During the fight, Purinton dug his left thumb into Orrs right eye. Days later, Purinton was suspended 10 games for eye gouging and subsequently was sent down to the minors. He never played for the Rangers again.Dale Diesel Purinton was no stranger to the penalty box at any point in his career. While playing midget hockey for the Moose Jaw Warriors in Saskatchewan, he racked up 107 penalty minutes in 34 games. He was 16 years old.Purinton was an enforcer, commonly referred to as a goon in hockey parlance. His job was to intimidate the opposing team and protect his teams star players -- usually by using bodily force. That job came with a hefty price, however. He battled constant headaches, nausea, forgetfulness, depression, irrationality and suicidal thoughts during his career, and he developed a drug addiction. Purinton believes he suffered at least 10 on-ice concussions. Yet he kept silent because of the very real fear of being replaced if he spoke up about his injuries.I just wouldnt tell anyone, Purinton, now 40, said by phone from his home on Vancouver Island. Our mentality growing up is that you train your whole life to do these jobs and [admitting to being injured] is a sign of weakness. I remember throwing up after a game, but I wouldnt tell anyone because I knew that they would bring someone else up [in my place].Purinton said living with multiple concussions dramatically changed his life.I couldnt finish one task, he said. The only thing I could really do is get on my riding lawn mower because its the only thing I could focus on for a longer period of time.Purintons worst concussion happened March 30, 2004, in a game against the New Jersey Devils,?when he collided with Devils forward Jamie Langenbrunner.I got kicked in the chin with a skate, and I landed right on the ice, Purinton said.Purinton felt woozy and had to be helped off the ice by his Rangers teammates. That was his final regular-season NHL game. And he was fine with that.By the end, I didnt even want to be a hockey player anymore, Purinton said. I was the most depressed and isolated and loneliest Ive ever been, and thats when I used the most drugs and alcohol because I just didnt know how to cope with life.Purinton became notorious for his violent antics on the ice later in his career, but he said there was a reason behind it.[I was] looking for a way to get out of hockey because something was wrong with me, he said.He was repeatedly warned that if he kept playing like a common goon, he would be fired. Acting up was his cry for help. He spent the final years of his career with the farm teams for the Rangers and the?Colorado Avalanche before calling it quits in 2007 after being suspended for sucker-punching an opponent.In the summer of 2015, he hit rock bottom when he was arrested for burglary and assault after he broke into an acquaintances home in upstate New York and roughed up the owner. He served four months at a maximum security prison earlier this year. Purinton, who found life among federal inmates to be a far cry from the penalty box, maintains that his fall from grace was all the result of concussions.Purinton has three young sons, all of whom play hockey. Fearing that they could also face concussions, he joined more than 100 fellow former players in a class-action lawsuit against the NHL aimed at holding the league accountable for their life-altering injuries.We need to look at their future as well, Purinton said. For me not to do anything would not have been the right thing to do.The players allege that the NHL did not do enough to care for its players, including not warning them about the long-term effects of brain injuries. The NHL argues that the players willingly entered the game and should have known the risks involved with the sport.Its hard for me to believe that [NHL commissioner] Gary Bettman can still try and tuck this under the rug and just blow it off like these guys arent human, Purinton said. They are struggling, and they have families and kids, and they are having a very hard time trying to live.Purinton owes much of his recovery to his wife, Temple Greenleaf. She first noticed a change in his mental state around 2003.I was starting to see signs that his job was not a normal job and that it was taking its toll on him mentally, she said. I thought there was a substance-abuse problem. He would kind of go up and down with depression and anxiety. It was this vicious cycle.Fearing for Purintons health, Greenleaf reached out to the NHLPA for help, but she said her concerns fell on deaf ears.The union called [former Rangers general manager] Glen Sather, and then they kind of brushed it under the rug and said, Clean up your act, Greenleaf said. The Rangers had no comment for this story.Purintons condition got worse after he retired.?In 2013, I forced Dales hand and made him call [the NHLPA]. He spoke to somebody in the union, she said, fighting tears. He said that he was having suicidal thoughts, and he needed some help, and he was really struggling. They said they would get back to him, but they just didnt deem him bad enough.Purinton did finally undergo treatment for his substance abuse. In the months between his arrest and his prison term, he spent 11 weeks at the Cedars Cobble Hill Treatment Center on Vancouver Island. It was paid for by the NHLPA.Now a year sober, Purinton is trying to help others who have been in his skates. In September, he and other former players spoke with lawmakers on Capitol Hill in an effort to draw attention to head injuries in hockey. Within the next year, he hopes to start a foundation aimed at helping other athletes struggling with addiction.I need to do my part, so Im starting a society here in Canada to pay for peoples treatment, he said. Im going to eventually meet with the NHL to work with people with post-traumatic addiction problems and a wide range of obsessive-compulsive behaviors.He wants to call the group Homies Help Homies, after a catchphrase he heard in a cartoon show.Greenleaf sees a silver lining in her husbands suffering.He is now doing so much better, and I think the greatest gift through this whole thing is that he wants to help other guys, she said.Thirteen years after Greenleaf first feared Purintons atypical occupation was causing him irreparable harm, he now has a normal job. He is a logger on Vancouver Island.?He still loves hockey. But he wants the NHL to provide treatment for the players who need it -- and make the sport safer for everyone, including his kids.I want to help people, he said. I want to give back. Its what I was meant to do. Swell Uk . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball. Swell Wood Bottle Uk . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. http://www.ukswellbottle.com/ . The team said Saturday that Lopez was hurt during its 121-120 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Friday. The Nets said they would issue another update next week after consultation with their doctors. Swell Bottle Uk . Louis Cardinals. Victorino is batting sixth and playing right field after missing two games because of back tightness. Swell White Marble Bottle . Vettel was 0.168 seconds faster than Red Bull teammate Mark Webber around the Suzuka circuit. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was two tenths of a second off Vettel. "The car balance is decent, but I think we can still improve," Vettel said. ARLINGTON, Texas -- George Springer set a positive tone right away for the Houston Astros against Yu Darvish.And they held on to avoid a late-season sweep, beating AL-best Texas 7-6 on Sunday and ending the Rangers seven-game winning streak.Springer led off the game with his 26th homer and scored his 100th run, and the Astros jumped out to a 5-0 lead against Darvish, whose shortest outing of the season lasted only four innings.That was a big win for us on a lot of levels. No. 1, to jump out ahead on Darvish, manager A.J. Hinch said. Its a good feeling getting on the plane, obviously, to salvage a game.The Astros, who have 24 games left, are still 9 1/2 games behind Texas in the AL West, and have won only three of 16 games against their division rival this season. And they have only three more head-to-head meetings remaining.Evan Gattis also homered for the Astros, though he struck out in each of his other four at-bats. His 24th homer was a solo shot in the fifth for a 6-2 lead right.Darvish (5-4), in his shortest outing this season, allowed five runs in four innings. He struck out four, walked three and had two wild pitches.Got him out of the game and got into their bullpen and fortunate enough to come out of here with a win, said rookie Alex Bregman, who had three hits. Thats what you have to do against good teams like this, get ahead of them early and continue to apply pressure.Chris Devenski (3-4) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings after taking over for starter Collin McHugh with one out in bottom of the fifth when the Rangers still had a runner on base and had already scored three runs in the inning to get within 6-5.I hung some. I made some good pitches, and I made some bad pitches. All the bad pitches got hit, McHugh said. Anything you can win a game on the road in the division, its a commodity. You take `em where you can get `em. Its not the prettiest of wins, especially here.CLOSING IT OUTKen Giles pitched the ninth for his eighth save in 11 chances. The final out coming when the righht-hander struck out hot-hitting Rougned Odor, who had three hits and three RBI earlier in the game.dddddddddddd Ian Desmond had a leadoff triple in the ninth and scored on Adrian Beltres groundout.BRUISED AND BLEEDINGRangers LF Carlos Gomez had blood streaming down his face after getting cut by his own helmet when sliding headfirst into second base on a stolen base in the sixth inning. The helmet popped off, bounced off the ground and into his face. A trainer came out and looked at Gomez, who then disappeared briefly into the dugout before returning with two bandages -- one on the bridge of his nose, and another over the top corner of his left eye. A few pitches later, he was picked off second base.TRAINERS ROOMAstros: Jose Altuve was the DH a day after suffering a cramp in his calf coming out of the batters box when he grounded into a game-ending double play. ... Hinch said INF Marwin Gonzalez was available as a defensive replacement or pinch-hitter, he hasnt played since leaving midway through Wednesday game because of a right hamstring injury. ... LHP Dallas Keuchel played catch for the first time since his scheduled start Friday was pushed back due to arm fatigue. Hinch said the Astros arent sure if hell pitch Tuesday.Rangers: C Jonathan Lucroy was back in the lineup and not feeling any lingering issues from flu-like symptoms that kept him to miss Saturdays game. ... RHP Keone Kela said he was OK after a liner deflected off the palm of his right hand in Saturdays game.UP NEXTAstros: Continue their stretch of 13 consecutive games against division leaders. They open a four-game series Monday at AL Central leader Cleveland before going home to play the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs and the Rangers.Rangers: Open a 10-game road trip when they will face three AL West rivals. That starts Monday in Seattle, and ends the following week with three games in Houston. ' ' '
