I'm boycotting Hockey...for the kids.

[b]Girl Hit By Puck at NHL Game Dies[/b]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A 13-year-old girl died after being hit in the head by a puck that was shot over the glass and caromed off another fan at an NHL game.

Brittanie Cecil died Monday night, two days after she was hurt at the game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Calgary Flames, Children's Hospital said.

It was believed to be the first death of a fan hit by a puck at an NHL game and one of the few fan fatalities at an American sports event other than auto racing directly related to action on the field.

``Our fans mean the world to us,'' said Doug MacLean, Blue Jackets general manager. ``This loss has profound effect on the entire Blue Jackets family.''

The shot by Espen Knutsen of Columbus flew over the high glass at the west end of the rink, glanced off another spectator and struck the girl in the head, witnesses said. The slap shot from the left circle appeared to be deflected by a defenseman's stick.

After being hit, the girl was seen standing with a jacket being held to her head. She walked with little assistance to an exit.

Teams warn spectators over the public-address system about pucks flying into the crowd. They also place warnings on scoreboards and on the back of each ticket.

NHL spokesman Frank Brown said Tuesday he could not recall any other fan killed by a puck.

He said one NHL player died from injuries in a game. Bill Masterton died Jan. 15, 1968, days after falling.

Although rare, spectators have been killed and seriously injured at hockey games, particularly in the low minor leagues and the amateur ranks where the glass is not as high around the rink.

A 21-year-old Canadian man died on March 5, 2000, after being struck by a shot that flew into the crowd during a South East Manitoba Hockey League game between Altona and Carman a week earlier.

A 9-year-old girl died in 1979 after being hit in the forehead during another Canadian game.

In 1984, a 10-year-old boy in Spokane, Wash., was killed when hit with a puck while watching an exhibition game between the Spokane Eagles and Spokane Chiefs.

A check of records found no similar deaths in baseball, basketball or football.

The lawyers will work out a settlement and the show will go on.

But if a spectator were killed by a freak ricochet at Camp Perry, it would be game over for the National Matches there.
[:(!]

I grew up in Philadelphia but lived for four years in southern California. Whenever the Flyers would make a road trip out my way, they'd play the LA Kings and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the same week, and I'd get good tickets to both games for a friend and I.

Three years ago, we were at the Anaheim game when a fan was puck-struck in the head and bled profusely not too far from us. Two days later, during the warm up at the Los Angeles game, I commented to my buddy that, since we were sitting ten rows up directly behind the goal that the Flyers would be shooting into in the first and third period, we oughta be on the lookout for a puck like that one in Anaheim.

Just then a puck came over the glass and slammed into the seat next to me. No joke. It hit the back of the seat, and would have probably broken a rib or two had it been a foot or a foot and a half to the left.

It was an unmarked practice puck, so I gave it to a kid who was there with his dad.

Man. I'm totaly blown away that a puck killed a girl. I've played hockey and watched hockey for years. In that time I've seen people get hit by pucks more times than I could count. I've never seen anyone killed. Hell, before the goalie mask was invented they used to stop pucks with their faces hundreds of times in a career.

[b][blue][size=4]We must BAN HOCKEY



If it saves just [i]one[/i] child.......[/b][/blue][/size=4]

How the puck could this happen?

Shut the puck up or everybody will get into puck puns!

Many years ago when I was a cub scout (I guess I was maybe 8 at the time) my scout group went to see the Omaha Knights play at the Ak-Sar-Ben Arena, Omaha, Nebraska (Incidentally, spell ak-sar-ben backwards and see how creative they are out there in cornland!) and I went up to take a squirt, and when I came back I discovered that I'd just missed having a flying puck land in my seat.   And the rat bastard kid sitting next to me didn't give it to me, damn him!  I got a game puck, though, by asking some guy associated with the team and told him what happened.  I think I still have it somewhere...

CJ