[taco.vidal]

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Gin...348/story.html

Friends and business associates of former Vancouver Canuck Gino Odjick say they were worried about his mental health in the days leading up to Pavel Bure’s jersey retirement ceremony on Nov. 2 at Rogers Arena.

Odjick, who has spent the past five days in a psychiatric unit at a Gatineau, Que., hospital, was not in a good state prior to Bure’s ceremony, his business manager Kumi Kimura said Tuesday.

Odjick and close friends blame his health problems on concussions suffered while playing hockey and serving as an enforcer who frequently got involved in on-ice fights.

“He was way gone at Pavel’s thing,” Kimura said. “We were walking on eggshells.”

Odjick was admitted to the psychiatric unit at UBC Hospital in early September, but was released after only a few days.

Odjick had travelled to Quebec following the death on Nov. 25 of his father, Joe Odjick.

Le Journal de Montreal reported Tuesday that an “agitated” Odjick had been admitted to the psychiatric ward of Pierre Janet Hospital Centre late last week.

Reporter Marc de Foy said Odjick told him two years ago that he was struggling with post-traumatic symptoms and has cognitive difficulties.

“When you get hit in the head a lot, it’s hard for the brain,” de Foy quoted Odjick as saying.