Like all hockey players, Andrew Shaw tried to fight through the pain.
And like many, the Montreal Canadiens winger kept his struggle under wraps. After all, hockey is a team sport, and Shaw didn't want to be away from the game, especially after already missing 14 games with a concussion.
But the reality that followed was a worthwhile lesson.
"I remember waking up in the middle of the night, puking, not sleeping, and I wasn't getting more than two or three hours of sleep during that night," Shaw told Sportsnet's Eric Engels, describing his experience after suffering another concussion in last year's playoffs.
"I was worried. If I'm worried, there's really something wrong. The wife knew there was something wrong with me and she was angry with me for not doing anything about it earlier.
"A teammate came up to me and asked me if I was all right because he could see it in my eyes that I didn't look right. He said it looked like I was looking right through him, and I was thinking there must be something wrong with me then."
Hits to the head, a cross-check to the face, and bumps into the boards, yet Shaw powered through. It wasn't until a fight with New York Rangers defenseman Brendan Smith drew the last straw.
Shaw sat out the series-deciding Game 6 against the Rangers, sidelined with a concussion. It was his second of the year, after a January collision with Boston Bruins defenseman Torey Krug left Shaw concussed.
"I was in my room in my house for a month in the dark with depression issues, being sad and miserable," Shaw added. "My anxiety was through the roof."
It was a tough road, but Shaw has come out better for it.
"If there's something wrong, right away you have to speak up and say something," Shaw told Engels. "Yes it's hockey, but you have a life outside of hockey. You've got family and friends. I plan on having kids and I want to be able to spend time with my kids and enjoy their life and have them enjoy mine.
"If you push yourself through it over and over again, you're going to have difficulties later in life."
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