Researchers hoping to examine former NHLer Todd Ewen's brain

Researchers are hoping that the family of former NHLer Todd Ewen will donate his brain for medical research.

Ewen passed away Saturday at the age of 49. On Monday, St. Louis County Police confirmed to Ken Campbell of The Hockey News that his death is being investigated as a suicide, as first reported by CTV News.

Dr. Charles Tator, leading neuroscientist and concussion expert at the Krembil Neuroscience Centre in Toronto, is asking that his team be allowed to examine Ewen's brain as they continue to study the effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) on athletes.

"It's important to find out why a person would take their life, or why a person shows signs of mental deterioration," Tator told TSN's Rick Westhead. "Very often with our brain donation project, the majority (of donors) have shown during their lives some evidence of brain degeneration, and so to try to help families deal with what they have observed, it's important to exam the brain to see what it was. Was it Alzheimer's or a tumour, or something else?

"We don't understand this disease of CTE. We don't know why some players get it and others don't. (Former CFL player) John Forzani did not have this condition. He did have concussions. So how come he didn't get (CTE)? We don't have an answer for that."

Tator has been committed to his research for five years, but one of his biggest obstacles is that he has only received 18 brains in that time. He is hopeful that with his continued research his team might soon be able to find trends and start drawing conclusions about the effects of concussions.

Ewen amassed 1,911 penalty minutes, including 146 fighting majors, in 518 regular-season games during his 11-year career.