Thursday, December 28, 2006

A tragedy at the rink

You never really think about these things when you sit watching young people play the game we follow with such reverence. In the beginning of their lives, they have taken up a sport that we feel is the best one in the world, so when a tragedy such as the one that happened at a suburban Toronto rink on Tuesday happens you are just left to wonder why.

Alex Corrance, a defenceman for the Mississauga Rebels Midget triple-A team, suddenly fell to the ice during a game on Tuesday in Toronto. He was not hit by a shot, nor a body check, he simply fell to the ice at the end of play.

Emergency medical aid immediately began as trainers could not receive a reaction from the young man that lay prone on the ice in Scarborough. Despite the best efforts of off duty police, firefighters and nurses and then the arrival of on duty medical services, Corrance succumbed to his injury at a Toronto hospital.

The autopsy was held on Wednesday, but no official word has been provided as to what caused the young 17 year old boy to collapse on the ice.

He had not complained about any health issues prior to the game and no one noticed anything unusual during the progress of the game.

His team has withdrawn from the Christmas week tournament, his fellow players understandably too distraught to continue on. His death will no doubt cast a pall over what should traditionally be a very happy time for young Canadians playing the game they love.

Christmas week tournaments are the staple diet of Canadian youth hockey, across the land on any given sheet of ice this week there is a game taking place, a hard fought battle on the ice taking place and a spirit of competitiveness and fair play in the air.

There will also be a tinge of sadness across that land this week, a young man passed away playing the game he loved. You feel for his family, his team mates and his sport.

It's a situation that doesn’t make sense and it just doesn’t seem right.

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