It's time for hockey -- and to get up to speed re concussions

It used to be the main tasks in getting a kid ready for the hockey season was making sure their skates were sharpened and their equipment fit.

Now more and more parents are also trying to get up to speed on understanding the nature and repercussions of concussions.

There are some good opportunities to do that in the coming days.

On Saturday morning, the Canadian Brain Injury and Violence Research team is holding a half-day conference called OuCH! Outcomes following Concussion in Hockey at St. Michael's Hospital.

There will be a number of leading experts including Drs. Michael Cusimano and Charles Tator, as well as former NHLer Rob Zamuner and university player Karolina Urban and journalists Teddy Katz and Adam Proteau taking part in panels and in a discussion with the audience. There will be an overview of concussions in hockey, information on management of a concussion and talk about the psychiatric issues post concussion as well as a discussion on possible solutions.

It's open to the public for a $10 fee and advance tickets can be purchased here. Registration begins at 7:30 am and the event wraps up around 12:15.

On Monday, Sept. 26, at 7 p.m. at York University, there's another event, the Blow by Blow: 2nd Annual Donald Sanderson Symposium on Sport Concussion. Sanderson died on Jan. 2, 2009 as a result of a head injury suffered in a fight. The symposium aims to increase discussion on the occurence and treatment of concussions.

Among the speakers there will be Sanderson's mother Dahna, former CFL quarterbacking great Matt Dunigan, who pulled his son out of football because of fears he'd suffer multiple concussions like his father, and Dr. Paul Echlin of London, Ont., one of the strong voices to emerge on this issue.

Registration for the event is here.

Meanwhile, in their attempt to decrease concussions, Hockey Canada unveiled their new website today giving the lowdown on the implementation of the new head contact rule for this season.

The new rule calls for zero tolerance on any head contact, a move that many would like to see the NHL follow.