Former NHLer Eric Lindros joins team backing 'Rowan's Law'

Former NHL player Eric Lindros was at Queen's Park on Wednesday to promote Rowan's Law, concussion education legislation named in memory of an Ottawa teen rugby player who was the subject of a coroner's inquest after her death.

• Rowan's Law proposes concussion rules for youth sports
• Rowan's Law for concussion education tabled in Ontario
• Rowan Stringer inquest jury releases 49 recommendations

Lindros — who played for Team Canada during three Olympic Games and spent the bulk of his NHL career with the Philadelphia Flyers — retired from hockey in 2007 after suffering several concussions.

It's important to "create a philosophy and a culture" that encourages injured youth to "pull back a bit," he said.

"I know what it's like to go through these situations. It's not pleasant," he said during a news conference.

"A ringette game for a 14-year-old doesn't mean the world to you as it would the game five of a Stanley Cup scenario. In their mind it is — it is very important."

His brother, Brett Lindros, also retired from the NHL at the age of 20 after suffering repeated concussions.

Bill has all-party support

Rowan Stringer, 17, died in May 2013 after suffering three concussions in less than a week while playing high school rugby.

​Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod sponsored a private member's bill last fall to implement recommendations made by the jury at the inquest into Rowan's death to help prevent similar concussion-related deaths. 

The legislation, which is co-sponsored by NDP MPP Catherine Fife and Liberal MPP John Fraser, received all-party support during its second reading.

But if Premier Kathleen Wynne prorogues the Ontario Legislature, the bill will die on the order paper before it can become law.

MacLeod said in a news release that support from Lindros "brings much needed attention to the importance of concussion legislation in Canada and the need for a centralizing role in concussion treatment and awareness."