The following article on Union defenseman Meagan Beck appeared in the January 11 issue of The Schenectady Gazette.

By Ken Schott
Schenectady Gazette 

It was an innocent collision during a pregame skate prior to the Union women's hockey team's game against Dartmouth on Nov. 30.

But for junior defenseman Meagan Beck, the collision may prove to be the end of her career.

Beck suffered a concussion, her third in college and sixth of her hockey career, from the collision. The Niskayuna native has decided to sit out the remainder of this season.

"It's been six weeks, and I've kind of gotten over the everyday headaches," said Beck, who was the Dutchwomen's co-most val­uable player last season, and was the team rookie of the year in 2005-06. "But I'm having trouble reading, and trouble focusing.

"Classes [started Monday], so that will be a good testing point to see where I really am, how my focus and concentration is."

Beck and two other players were involved in the collision.

"Before games, we go on the ice at noon and do a pregame skate, just helmets and gloves," Beck said. "We go through our plays and our systems. Me and one of my teammates both had our heads down in the warmup. One other teammate [skated in], and we all just ran into each other. My head is so sensitive from past concussions that one little hit in the wrong spot did something to my head that it wouldn't do normally to other people. It was just an unlucky hit in practice."

Union coach Claudia Asano is disappointed to lose Beck.

"It's sad," Asano said. "It def­initely affects our team, but we've had a lot people in and out of the lineup, so I think we are adjusting. But [Beck's] a junior and a leader, and it's not easy to be missing that in the lineup."

Beck, who played at the Berkshire School prior to attending Union, had three doctor appointments scheduled for this week. She will have tests to determine if she is at risk of suffering more concussions if she continues to play. If the results tell her that it would be too risky to play again, then the 20-year-old Beck will hang up her skates.

"Before, we were kind of doing overall testing," Beck said. "Now, we're kind of getting down to the nitty gritty, and trying to figure out what's really wrong."

But it is getting scary for Beck. While she loves playing hockey, she realizes that being healthy is more important.

"I've never had any side effects after one week with any previous concussion, but I don't know if I never fully recovered from them, so it's easy to get them again," Beck said. "But this one's been much different than the past ones, based on recovery time and how I felt. It fluctuates from school to school, but a lot of training staffs and doctors don't let you play after about five or six [weeks]. We're getting up to the point where the doctors are going to have to decide what's best for me in the long run."