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Boyle: In hindsight, I returned from my concussion too soon

San Jose Sharks v Washington Capitals

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 14: Dan Boyle #22 of the San Jose Sharks skates down the ice against the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center on January 14, 2014 in Washington, DC.

G Fiume

Back in December and more than a month after returning from a concussion, San Jose Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle suggested that there was more to this story than he was ready to talk about.

It’s only now that he’s finally ready to open up about the problems he faced in his recovery that extended far beyond his Nov. 2 return.

“In hindsight -- and it wasn’t the team that was forcing me, it was all me -- it would have been a good idea for me to stay away a little longer,” Boyle admitted to the San Jose Mercury News.

When St. Louis Blues forward Maxim Lapierre knocked him out on Oct. 15, he went through a period of about two weeks were he would sleep all the time.

When that phase was over he returned despite the fact that new problems were arising.

“I wasn’t eating. My wife was concerned,” Boyle said. “I wasn’t sleeping, I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t feeling good.”

There were times where he played on just one or two hours sleep. He admitted that it got to the point where he was like a “zombie” and it made him sluggish on the ice.

It wasn’t until just before Christmas that Boyle finally reached out to the Sharks for help. They got him to talk with the Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine and that’s proven to be a big help.

At this point Boyle feels the issue is behind him, which is why he’s comfortable sharing it with the public. But it does stand up both as an example of the lingering problems that can arise from head injuries and what some will put themselves through for the sake of being in the lineup.

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