The vibrant youth hockey community in Ottawa is reeling from the sudden loss of a budding teenage talent after the 15-year-old unexpected collapsed just off the ice from heart failure during a game.
As reported extensively by CBC and Ottawa Citizen, among other outlets, Ottawa (Ont.) Sacred Heart Catholic School student Tyler Kerr died just hours following his collapse on the team bench moments after stepping off a Carp, Ontario rink on Sunday evening. The teen had been playing in a game between his Richmond squad and an opposing team from West Carleton.
According to CBC, Kerr had just finished a shift and stepped on to the bench when someone else on the bench noticed that he had collapsed. The Richmond team's trainer immediately began CPR while an automatic external defibrillator was acquired from elsewhere in the rink and used on the teen.
While those emergency measures may have prolongs Kerr's life, albeit briefly, they couldn't save him, with the teen passing away in the early hours of Monday morning. Now his funeral has been set for Friday, all while the classmates at his former school try to come to grips with the shock of losing a fellow student so young.
"It's hard to take in," Sacred Heart student Taylor Bennett told CBC. "[I'm] just really shocked something like this could happen. I just found out this morning he actually died. I had no idea. I thought he had a minor concussion or a coma.… He didn't even get to experience most of his life."
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