13-year-old hockey fan Brittanie Cecil was sitting in the stands watching a hockey game when Calgary Flames player Derek Morris deflected the hockey puck, sent it over the glass behind the net, and struck her in the temple, fracturing her skull. She died just two days before her 14th birthday.
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[https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/20/sports/hockey-girl-13-dies-after-being-hit-by-puck.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/20/sports/hockey-girl-13-dies-after-being-hit-by-puck.html)
**HOCKEY; Girl, 13, Dies After Being Hit by Puck**
A girl who was struck in the head by a careening puck at a National Hockey League game in Columbus on Saturday night died at a hospital Monday evening, two days before her 14th birthday.
It was the first time somebody had been killed by a puck at an N.H.L. game, league officials said yesterday.
The girl, Brittanie Cecil, died at Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
She was hit by the puck during the second period of the Blue Jackets-Calgary Flames game when a Columbus player, 30-year-old Espen Knutsen of Norway, fired a slap shot. The puck was deflected by a defenseman’s stick, then sailed over the glass partition and into the stands at the west end of the ice. There, the puck bounced off a fan before hitting Brittanie.
Emergency medical technicians tended to the girl. Someone wrapped a cloth around her head. She walked out of the arena, accompanied by medical workers, and entered an ambulance.
The fan who was first struck by the puck did not require hospitalization, a league official said.
The game continued, and the Blue Jackets went on to a 3-1 victory.
When hit hard enough, a hockey puck can travel at a speed of more than 100 miles an hour, faster than most major league fastballs.
The hospital did not release details of Brittanie’s injuries or her treatment. The coroner of Franklin County, Bradley Lewis, said his office would conduct an autopsy this morning.
A statement issued by the hospital on behalf of the Cecil family said the parents had donated the girl’s organs in the hope ”that others will be blessed as much as they were by her life.” The family, which is establishing a memorial fund through a bank, said it did not wish to speak with the news media.
The general manager of the Blue Jackets, Doug MacLean, said in a statement that the Blue Jackets and Nationwide Arena were ”deeply saddened by the tragic accident.”
”Our fans mean the world to us and this loss has had a profound effect on the entire Blue Jackets family,” MacLean continued.
MacLean did not return calls seeking comment.
Gary Bettman, the N.H.L. commissioner, issued a statement extending condolences to the family.
Announcers at N.H.L. games often warn the crowd before the start of the first period to look out for pucks and other flying objects. Some clubs put a similar warning on their scoreboard. The back of every game ticket has a warning. It states that pucks ”and other objects frequently leave the playing surface and may cause injury. Please be alert.”
Only one N.H.L. player has died from an injury incurred in game action, and it did not involve a puck. Bill Masterton of the Minnesota North Stars died two days after he struck his head on the ice in a fall during a January 1968 game.
In March 2000, a 21-year-old man died a week after being struck by a puck that flew into the crowd during a South Eastern Manitoba Hockey League game. In 1984, a 10-year-old boy was killed when he was struck by a puck while watching an exhibition game between the Spokane Chiefs and Spokane Eagles of the Western Hockey League.
N.H.L. and Blue Jackets officials did not say yesterday whether Brittanie’s death would change any of their safety procedures.
Some hockey arenas, especially smaller ones, have nets set up behind the goals to catch pucks that fly above the glass. Michigan State University had such nets set until this season. They were taken down because video screens were recently set up at either end of the ice, and the nets would have obscured them, said Mike Eidelbes, a spokesman for the hockey program.
The nets were 85 feet wide and ran 10 to 15 feet above the glass, which rises 8 feet above the walls behind the goals.
”They’re a safety precaution obviously, and safety is a priority at hockey games,” Eidelbes said of the nets. ”But nets or no nets, fans have to be aware. A net doesn’t mean they shouldn’t pay attention. I’ve seen pucks go through nets. They have to keep their eye on the puck.”
Man, I remember that. Absolutely tragic. Wild times, those pre-net days
What does this serve to dig up this tragedy and post it here