Brittanie Cecil dies
The death of Brittanie Cecil occurred during a hockey game of the National Hockey League (NHL) in March 2002 in Columbus , Ohio , USA , as the 13-year-old spectator by a deflected puck was hit in the head and died two days later. The incident made international headlines and led to an increase in security measures at NHL games.
Victim
Brittanie Nichole Cecil was born on March 20, 1988 and lived with her mother, sister, and stepfather in West Alexandria , Preble County , Ohio , about 20 miles west of Dayton . She attended Twin Valley South Middle School in West Alexandria, served on the student council, cheerleading, and playing soccer and volleyball . She was buried in the Fairview cemetery where she lived.
incident
Brittanie Cecil attended with her stepmother on March 16, 2002 an NHL home game of the Columbus Blue Jackets against the Calgary Flames , which was played in the Nationwide Arena of Columbus, Ohio. She had received the admission ticket as an early birthday present from her biological father. It was her first trip to an ice hockey game.
The girl was hit in the head in the second third of the game with 12:20 minutes remaining from a blow shot from Jackets-Center Espen Knutsen and deflected by Flames defender Derek Morris . The puck had flown over the eight foot high Plexiglas border of the ice field and 30 meters further to the 19th row of section 121 on the west side of the hall. Besides Brittanie Cecil, two other spectators were hit and injured by the same puck.
Brittanie Cecil had a bleeding head injury, but was conscious and was able to go to the first aid station and later to the ambulance on her own. It was only in the children's hospital in Columbus, where her head wound was to be sewn, that she became faint and was admitted to observation. Two days later, however, she died of an accumulated blood clot that cut off the blood supply to her brain. The cause of death was as a result of a spinal artery injury when her head fell back from the puck impact.
reaction
Brittanie Cecil was the first person in NHL history to be killed in a puck flight. Due to her death, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman ordered the installation of safety nets behind the goal areas of all NHL arenas from the beginning of the next season. In addition, it was decided to raise the minimum height of the Plexiglas border around the ice surfaces by two feet. Raising the panes to protect the rearmost and highest spectator areas or completely securing the ice surface with safety nets is still not feasible due to the associated instability of the pane walls and the resulting restricted view for viewers and TV teams through nets. Fatal accidents caused by pucks had already occurred in other leagues, for example in 1984 in the WHL and in 2000 in the SEMHL .
The Blue Jackets won the game 3-1 on the day of the accident. At the next home game, the flags in front of the Nationwide Arena were set at half-mast and there was a minute's silence before the start of the game. The players themselves wore the initials of the killed girl on their helmets and wore them until the end of the season. Blue Jackets manager Doug MacLean also represented the team at Brittannie Cecil's funeral.