Illegal hit ends 16-year-old Beaconsfield hockey player's season
James Orr hit from behind just a week after judge awards $8M to player left paralyzed by similar play
A 16-year-old hockey player from Beaconsfield will miss the rest of the season after an illegal hit along the boards in a midget AAA game this week left him with a fractured vertebra in his neck.
James Orr, who plays defence with the Lac St. Louis Lions, suffered a broken vertebra in a game against the Collège Antoine-Girouard Gaulois in Dollard-des-Ormeaux.
Orr was hit from behind as he pinched in from the blue line to keep the puck in the offensive zone.
"His back was to the player, and the player just plowed him into the boards from behind," said his father, John Orr, who was watching from the stands at the time.
James said it was a play he's made countless times, and he wasn't expecting the hit.
"As soon as I went down, I felt a pain in my neck. I stayed down after that — I didn't want to make it worse," James said.
John ran down to ice level.
"You're wondering, 'Is he paralyzed? Is he awake?'" Orr recalled in an interview on CBC Montreal's Homerun.
"I got over there quickly, and immediately someone said his feet were moving, so that crossed off the chance of paralysis," Orr said.
James was eventually taken to hospital, where a CT scan revealed the broken vertebra.
He's now in a neck brace, and his doctor has told him he has to avoid physical activity for six to eight weeks while the vertebra heals.
Player suspended indefinitely
The incident occurred a week after a Laval player left paralyzed by a similar hit in a midget AA game in 2010 was awarded $8-million in damages.
The decision by Quebec Superior Court Justice Daniel Payette is believed to be the highest ever awarded in Canada in a case concerning hockey violence.
John Orr said the player who hit his son has been suspended indefinitely and is to appear before a league board next week where the length of his suspension will be determined.
"I'm confident the league will give him a minimum of 10 games. And with that kind of suspension, if he does it again, he'll lose the full season, if he isn't kicked out of Hockey Quebec," Orr said.
Orr said coaches in the league are doing everything they can to teach their players the dangers of hitting from behind.
But those lessons are too often contradicted by what young players see happening in the National Hockey League, Orr said.
"They see guys getting creamed and twisting their heads. These players are watching that. If you want to educate, you have to stop it at that level so the players aren't mimicking what they're seeing."